Over Wind and Wave
by The Author's Mighty Pen
Summary: When Anna Smith decides to take the summer-long research position to finish her PhD in oceanography in the South of France she never expects to meet John Bates, government auditor. When the summer ends, and both must return to their lives. The moment comes to both of them, in the darkest of their abysses, when they rely on the memories of one another and the hopes of making more.
1. Lacrymae Hinc, Hinc dolor

He wondered, as he sat in the dark of the stuffy, windowless cell, where she was. If she thought of him. If she ever felt as alone as he did without her. If she went to the bottom of the ocean like she planned.

Trying to count days when there was no light was impossible. For all he knew he was there only hours and not days or weeks. The only track of time he had was between the blare of heavy metal music or bright lights or the heating lamps they used between beatings or the screaming yells that ricocheted over the walls around them. The walls he scratched at in the dark to carve the same phrase over and over again.

When the lights came on, and his eyes gained enough sight to make out his etchings, he focused his eyes there to escape from the questions, the beatings, and the torment. He evaluated his child's scrawl from the dark nothingness and wondered if his torturers could read it. If they would use the name he repeated between the Latin phrase against him.

He prayed to the God he all but forgot that she was safe. That she thought he was too. That she would never have to worry about him as he did her.

And yet he also prayed that she remembered him every day. When the lashes came down on his back he hoped she thought of their nights together. When they cuffed his ears or knocked his chair out from underneath him he hoped her smile for him on the beaches or walks would be as genuine when they saw one another again. When they sweated him to exhaustion before turning the coolers on to freeze him with deluges of cold water he focused on the blue of her eyes when she dug into the chocolate desserts he bought for her. And when they left him to the silence or the noise he remembered her perfect laugh and the lilt she always had to her voice when she said, "Mr. Bates."

He remembered it in the same vivid detail he remembered everything about her. It ran on repeat in his mind to distract him from where he sweated and froze and suffered in the dark. Between the images of her, the sounds she made, the smells she emitted, and the feel of her under his fingers he only remembered one other thing.

The same phrase a Queen of France took as her personal motto after the violent death of her husband. The phrase that reminded him, in the dark and emptiness before him, that the source of his joy could one day be the source of his pain if he allowed it to be. For, "from this comes my tears and my pain."

Something he would never allow was her suffering. As long as he lived, which seemed shorter with each passing eternity and moment in turn, he would never allow her hurt. Which was why she dived to the bottom of the ocean and he sat in the dark waiting for death to come to him.


	2. Hic Manebimus Optime

She held her bags in her hands, shaking her head at the men who promised the best rates for a taxi before she even reached the queue outside the airport. With each step she kept her bags close, eyes roving to those with swiftly slick fingers ready to dip into an exposed pocket at the soonest opportunity. The sounds and smells of the airport overwhelmed her senses but she kept herself focused on the signs that indicated where to catch the taxis.

"Anna!" She pivoted on the spot, trying to stop her bags flinging out with centrifugal force, and smiled at the sight of an older woman pushing her way through the hoard. "We thought we'd never find you."

"I'm glad you did or I'd risk a _Taken_ moment waiting for a taxi." Anna dropped a bag between them to hug the woman. "How are you Mrs. Hughes?"

"Thrilled you accepted the offer."

"Turn down a chance to spend the summer in Nice studying the ocean?" Anna grinned at her, "I'd be a fool."

"I couldn't agree more." Mrs. Hughes took one of Anna's bags, hustling them through the crowd toward a tall man with imposing eyebrows waiting beside a car while arguing with the security guard. "Mr. Carson, we need to be civil and not argue with the poor man just doing his job."

"I told him we were waiting patiently and then-" Mr. Carson stopped, leaving the guard with a dropped jaw, and extended his hand for Anna to shake. "It's been too long Anna."

"It has Mr. Carson." She lifted her bags into the small boot of the car before taking the rear seat. "I think we'll make his day better if we leave now."

"Right." Mr. Carson left the security guard with a final glare before wedging himself between the steering wheel and his seat to drive them away.

Anna tried to restrain herself from pressing her face to the window as they drove the road edging the coast. The deep blue of the water called to her, beckoning with the wafting breeze as its accomplice through the windows of the car. She smiled to herself and almost did not hear Mrs. Hughes calling out to her.

"Sorry?"

Mrs. Hughes laughed, "You were miles away dear."

"Just thinking of the difference between the beaches here and back home."

"Leeds doesn't have beaches." Mr. Carson barely avoided hitting a smaller car as he tried to merge into another lane and Anna raised her hand to the roof to steady them. "Bloody drivers on the wrong side of the road."

"Technically it's the right side of the road." Mrs. Hughes shook her head, turning back over her seat to Anna. "I hope you're alright taking that other girl's room."

"It was either that or I have to live in student dorms again."

"I wouldn't wish that on anyone who knew how to get themselves out of those places." Mrs. Hughes shuddered, "Though I've liked the staff at the University so far."

"Anyone promising for our research?"

Mrs. Hughes shook her head, "I've had a few requests put in about teaching aides but none of them want the job. I'm sorry Anna but it'll probably just be you and I all summer."

"I don't mind it." Anna pointed out the window, "We're treating that as our lab. How could I mind more hours spent there?"

"Good point."

They drove to the building where Anna managed her bags with one hand and the door buzzer with the other. The woman who answered spoke in fast French and then even faster English before allowing Anna inside. Mrs. Hughes came in with her, discussing with the landlady the change in arrangement, while Anna dropped her bags in the small sitting room.

The kitchen was no more than an island doubling as counter and bar with a small refrigerator and a few cupboards over a small sink. The bathroom cramped Anna and she left the door open just to not suffocate in the tiny space with an even smaller window when she tested the faucets. Her bedroom held a bed almost too large for her and a tiny closet Anna hoped could fit at least one of her suitcases.

She went back to the sitting room, smiling at the landlady and Mrs. Hughes. "It's perfectly fine."

"She says to warn you that sometimes the people upstairs make a lot of noise at night." Mrs. Hughes cringed, "I hope that doesn't bother you."

"Honestly I'm sure I'll be so tired I won't even notice." Anna shook the landlady's hand after pocketing the key. "I'll have first month's rent to you by this evening."

"Good." She nodded to Anna, then Mrs. Hughes, and left the flat.

Anna opened her arms to the space before bringing them back to her sides. "Not the worst conditions I've ever had. And if we're taking about Uni this is more than fine."

"It was a tight squeeze but on a budget and given the distance between this flat and the University I'd say we got ourselves quite the bargain." Mrs. Hughes hugged Anna again, "I'm just so glad you agreed to come. I'd be lost without you."

"And I you." Anna smiled, "My advisor at Leeds says I need to schedule a time to submit my thesis for review but I want another go at it."

"Tit for tat then. I'll review your PhD and you'll take some of the burden of this research off my back."

"Sounds heavenly."

Mrs. Hughes went to say something before gruffing at the sound of a honking horn. "Mr. Carson has no patience."

"It's fine, Mrs. Hughes." Anna gestured to her things. "I've got to get settled and then I'll probably wander a bit, just to get the geography down."

"Not a bad idea." Mrs. Hughes agreed, "I'd offer dinner tonight but I've got a faculty party that Mr. Carson's just dreading."

"You've already done more than enough."

"I'm still insisting that we do breakfast tomorrow." Mrs. Hughes went to the door, "I'll text you the particulars and take you to a lovely little bistro that I adore."

"I can't wait." Anna waved Mrs. Hughes out of the flat and then turned to her bags. "Time to get sorted."

After what seemed like an eternity Anna finally organized the flat to her convenience. Drawers in the kitchen rearranged while she made a list of appliances and utensils she might need. The bed and sofa moved slightly, the carpets straightened, and the bathroom cabinet emptied of what Anna suspected were long expired prophylactics.

With the key secured on a ring she stuffed in her pocket, Anna locked the flat and followed the map on her phone toward the nearest shop. In one of the moments she looked own at her phone Anna ran into something large and very stationary. She took a step back, covering her mouth with her hand in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking and-"

"It's no harm done." He held up his hands, "I was taking up the pavement and even if you had been paying attention I would've put you out of sorts."

"I don't know if that's true." Anna shuffled in place, taking stock of the man looking far too professional for a stroll down the pavement. "I am sorry."

"I'm not. I got to meet someone who is not only rather polite but also rather friendly." He waved a hand about, "Not something I'm finding from many of the others in this town."

"Really? I always heard Nice was nice."

He narrowed his eyes at her a moment before they crinkled with his laughter. "You're not wrong there. Nice is nice but I mean the deluge of summer tourists and the exhausted locals."

"I wouldn't be overly pleased if I lost my home to invading armies of demanding foreigners every year either." Anna shrugged, "But I guess we all know who butters our bread."

"Or we think we do." He smiled at her, nodding his head. "Pleasure to meet you."

"But," Anna called as he pivoted to walk away. "We haven't really met, have we? I mean, meeting usually means we exchange names and I don't know yours and I don't recall giving you mine so that'd mean we didn't meet."

"We bumped into each other."

"I think I bumped into you."

"Quite literally." His smile took up his face before he extended a hand. "John Bates."

"Anna Smith." Anna took a moment to bask in the sensation of his large hand engulfing her own before they broke the gesture. "Would I be too impolite to ask why you're here, Mr. Bates?"

"Shopping."

Anna giggled, "I meant here in Nice."

"Oh," He exaggerated his reaction, "Why I'm here in Nice."

"Yes."

"I'm here on business so I can't claim to be part of the foreign invasion." He cringed, "Though I warn you, saying I'm here on business sounds far more exotic and exciting than it really is."

"Don't most things?"

"I don't know because you haven't told me why you're here."

"I'm here to work on ocean research for the summer with a former professor and current friend before I finish my PhD and then go back for my thesis defense."

John gaped at her, "I'm beyond impressed."

"Why?"

"Because you're here for business and pleasure."

Anna shrugged, "I guess you could say that."

"Well," John stopped himself, "It really does depend if your business is your pleasure as to whether or not that's true."

"I think it is." Anna opened her hand to him. "And yours?"

"My business can be a pleasure but pleasure is, unfortunately, not usually my business." John sighed, looking around the street before turning back to Anna, "There's probably a reason you're here, at this shop, right now and I don't want to delay you if you have other plans, but would you find it terribly imposing if I invited you to dinner?"

Anna worked her jaw a moment before responding, "I'd be delighted. Though I have to insist it's in a public venue."

"I don't usually take women I just met on the street to anywhere but a public place." John leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially to her, "There's just something about you."

"I do hope this isn't the point where the audience would scream that I'm about to go on a doomed date with the serial killer." Anna played with the list in her hands as John shook his head.

"I promise nothing but chivalry and courtesy."

"Then I assume you're aware that chivalry is mostly rules about jousting."

John laughed, "I had heard that but, in this instance, I'm talking about the proper ways one treats a lady. The jousting part I'll worry about later."

"Proper ways to treat a lady." Anna fell into step with John, the two of them walking up the pavement toward the other shops in town. "I hope you don't mean selling me off for a marriage alliance to solidify ties with a foreign nation."

"We're already in a foreign nation so I'd be a fool to try and get rid of you now." John pointed them down another street, directing them toward a set of stairs aiming at the beach. "Though I do wonder what brought you all the way to Nice to study for a PhD."

"Why don't you take a guess?" Anna waved a hand toward the ocean in front of them as they walked the edge of the sand.

"Holiday studies?"

"Something a little broader?"

"International vacation spots?" John smiled before snapping his fingers, "French food for tourists and its inevitably high mark up."

"No," Anna swatted at him, freezing for a moment until she realized John already shrugged it off. "I'm an oceanographer."

"But we're not by an ocean."

"Everything connects to an ocean." Anna justified, "It's all about the flow of water and there's a lot to study about that here."

John nodded a moment, guiding her out onto the sand after both took care to remove their shoes. "Then you study the world."

"I wouldn't put it that way."

"Maybe you should." John sand on the sand, stretching out to cross his legs and for a moment Anna appreciated the sheer height of him compared to her miniscule frame.

"And why's that?"

"Oceans and water cover seventy percent of this planet. You just said it's all about the flow of water." He leaned back on his elbows, pointing at the ocean before them. "From this point you could travel anywhere on just water. It's the means by which you discover the world."

"Are you secretly a philosopher?"

"No, just someone who's seen a lot of places that share water in common."

"You travel often then?" Anna hugged her knees close to her chest, resting her head sideways on them to look at John.

He did not meet her gaze, frowning at the ocean. "More than I like sometimes and far too frequently to feel like I'm anything but a vagabond."

"I'm a little jealous." Anna shrugged when he looked at her, "I haven't seen much of the world. This is the farthest away from home I've been except for a conference once in Florida."

"Then you're misusing your trade, Ms. Smith." John stopped, "Or should I say _Doctor_ Smith? I'd hate to be impolite and muss your salutation."

"Since I haven't passed my presentation yet… or even finished my thesis I'd say you're fine." Anna sighed, "My advisor's pressuring me to schedule for when I get back in October."

"What happens once you pass your thesis and your board?"

Anna flailed a hand as if shaking something from her skin. "I'll probably be stuck in a classroom somewhere telling kids about why water matters."

"Which classroom?"

"Not sure it matters since none of them really care as long as they turn the faucet and can take a warm shower." Anna rolled her shoulders back, "I had a difficult enough time justifying to my own mother why water mattered."

"Alright," He shifted to sit, like he wanted to pay rapt attention in a classroom before opening his hands to her, '"Go on."

"Go on with what?"

"Start telling me why water matters."

Anna narrowed her eyes at him, "Are you having me on?"

"No, I want to know why water matters so much to you."

"It's critical for survival."

"As a human being I understand that."

"You asked." Anna taunted as John's face crinkled again with his grin.

"I'm not asking for a recitation of facts from a Wikipedia page." He leaned forward, pointing at her, "Why does water matter to the future Doctor Anna Smith?"

She did not answer immediately. When she did Anna held his earnest gaze. "It's what I shared with my father. Every Saturday, rain or shine, storm or calm, hail or wind, hot or cold we're walk the beach just talking about water. We'd talk about everything really." Anna bit down to stop the quiver in her lip, redirecting her focus to the sea glowing with the reflection of the setting sun. "It's where I feel closest to him."

"When did he pass?"

"I was nine. It was a work accident in the fishery where he worked." Anna wiped at her eyes, facing John again, "I'm reminded of him every time I look at the ocean or any large body of water. I remember every conversation and it's almost like I'm back on that beach, with him beside me, walking toward the future with him to share it with me."

"That's beautiful."

"It's the power of water."

"Really?"

"I can tell where a drop of water came from in a few moments." She sighed, "People forget that water travels everywhere but that it has a memory. A unique DNA as complex and identifying as any you find in a human. It's inside us, around us, and the source of all life. It's where we began and how we end."

John whistled softly, "I've never heard anyone speak that poetically about the ocean."

"You did, a few moments ago."

"I spoke about travel." John's eyes softened as they stared at her, "You're talking about the connection to everything through water. That's poetic."

Anna leaned forward, teasing in her tone, "Just wait until I let loose about cephalopods."

They both laughed and John leaned back on both of his arms, watching the water. "I can't wait to hear how passionate you are about the flexibility of a squid."

"You joke but it's what I love about studying the water, studying the oceans." Anna let her legs fall to cross, gesticulating with her hands, "We send men to space and to the highest mountains to discover something while the most undiscovered parts of our earth lay beneath us, as yet untouched by man."

"And you want to go there?"

"I want to see it. Maybe touch the place where all life began." Anna shrugged, "Life formed from the oceans and crawled to land. We're born in an amniotic sack and breathe liquid until we're born. We belong in the water and to the water, Mr. Bates. Sometimes our species just forgets that."

"In that case," John stood, shedding his button-down shirt and shucking off his trousers to leave him in his boxers. "Let's go."

"What?" Anna tried to hide her choke of surprise with a nervous laugh. "Go where?"

"Let's return to the ocean, Ms. Smith." He held a hand out to her, "Or as close as we can get from the Mediterranean."

Anna studied his hand a minute before pulling her shirt over her head and shucking her own jeans. "Alright then. Last one to the water loses."

He grinned, "You're on."


	3. Vocat Officium

John pulled at his shirt, sticking to his skin from the water, and laughed. "I guess the whole world now knows I went swimming without the right suit."

"We both did." Anna pointed to her own sopping clothing, "Not sure they'd allow us in any café now."

"Maybe if we promised to drip-dry outside?" John's pocket vibrated and he reached in. He swiped for the message and frowned, "Though I apparently have something I've got to do now."

"Before dinner?"

"Emergency at the office." John responded to the message and tucked his mobile away. "Always so needy."

"Does that mean you won't be treating me to dinner tonight?" Anna pulled to a halt and John stopped next to her.

"I'd be lying if I could promise a definitive time."

"What kind of job keeps you busy at all hours?" Anna narrowed her eyes at him, as if dramatically searching for clues as to his occupation. "Are you a hotel manager?"

"No. I work in government auditing. I'm here for a long audit of a company we've been investigating for some time."

"Sounds mysterious."

"It's just dull." John reached out a hand to her but paused, curling his fingers back and dropping his arm. "Would it be too forward to ask if you'd meet me for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately I've already agreed to breakfast with my professor and her husband." Anna held up a hand as John went to hang his head. "But I wouldn't say no to lunch."

"Then lunch it is." John removed his mobile, tapping a few things before holding it out to her. "Would you be so kind as to give me your number?"

"I'd be honored." Anna flicked the keys and handed it back. "What time?"

"Noon, but I'll call you thirty minutes beforehand." His mobile vibrated again and John scowled. "I'd best be off before someone dies of a heart attack while waiting."

"We wouldn't want that." Anna smiled, waving to him as she walked away, "It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Bates."

"And you, Ms. Smith." John smiled until she turned her back before dialing the number on his phone. "What?"

"No need to sound so waspish, I'm only the messenger."

"I know what you are, Henry, just tell my why you're calling me now."

"She's moved position. We've got a chance to catch her."

John sighed, "Still ruining my life even after we divorced."

"That's what happens when you marry an international drug smuggler."

"I didn't know that's what she was when I married her now did I?"

"That's your story anyway."

John glared, wishing he could see the man on the other end of the line. "Henry Talbot I swear if you-"

"Don't get your knickers in a twist. I sent you the coordinates. Hurry now and you might actually get her before she decides to scurry back to her friends in Tunisia."

"I was supposed to be on holiday."

"Finish this tonight and Nice is all yours for the next few months."

"Alright, where's she headed?"

"Already sent it to your mobile. Just…"

John frowned, "Just what, Henry?"

"Just don't muck it up this time. I don't want to have to explain why there's a bullet in someone's brain pan when we needed that brain intact."

"That's not fair."

"It's accurate. Don't let your ego get over this."

"It's nothing to do with my ego."

"It's everything to do with your ego John."

The line disconnected and John maneuvered the phone to see the indicator dot making a steady, unhurried pace. He raised an arm and flagged down a passing cab. The driver, eyeing John's clothes, took the damp money all the same and drove John to the indicated address.

He got out of the cab and eyed the streets filling with tourists ready for their evenings before spotting her. Dark hair, determined face, and a crackle to her cold eyes, John had to suppress the shudder that ran through him. He swallowed and hurried up the street to keep pace with her as she moved through the crowds.

The unhurried pace of the indicator on his phone echoed in her walk, like someone taking an evening stroll to a destination but with all the time they needed to travel there. For a moment John wanted to rush her, to use the little gaps between the shops and the people to make her disappear, but he knew he needed to know where she was going. They needed to know where she was going.

He dialed the number quickly, "I've got eyes on her."

"She's not moved in days so if she's feeling the need to move on her own now then there's got to be a reason."

"Anyone arrive in town we should know about?"

"No one we've tracked yet but Branson's got the lead on someone who could be a buyer or new supplier."

"Out of Tunisia?"

"Algiers actually but it's all about the same."

"Algiers is in Algeria, which is not Tunisia." John shook his head, "Give me a moment to get you on my earpiece."

"Just don't touch your ear and please, for the love of all that's decent, don't bring your cuff to your mouth."

"Seeing as I'm neither the American Secrete Service nor a complete idiot I don't see that happening." John removed an earpiece, slotting it around his ear and then slipping his mobile into his pocket. "Do I wait to take them both or just get her now?"

"See where she's going and then we'll advise."

"I do hope that doesn't mean I'm going to be using that contact."

"Actually…"

John groaned, digging in another pocket to extract a tiny case. He blinked rapidly and hurried to get the contacts in. "These sting."

"They wouldn't if you actually-"

"Shut up Henry." John blinked, "Are they online?"

"Getting signal now."

"Perfect." John tucked the case away. "I'm going back to my job now."

He kept pace with the woman on the other street, marking her progress without making a scene, and moving steadily through the crowds. They wandered and eventually stopped near a café where she took a seat. John found a seat of his own and leaned back to take in the sight.

"What are you doing Vera?" He muttered and jumped slightly as Henry's voice sounded in his ear.

"Are you talking to yourself again?"

"Damn it Henry," John held up his hand to order a drink. "This is why I hate having you in my ear."

"Get over it."

John turned his focus back to the table across the street. "She's got someone joining her at the table."

"Get me a good image please."

"So needy." John blinked in the direction of the table, "How long do you need?"

"He's… not who we're looking for."

"Are you saying she left her hotel for a date?"

"I guess a girl's got to manage some things with a little help."

"Ew," John winced, "Henry that's…"

"Fact."

"Disgusting. I was going to say disgusting."

"I know what-"

"Hang on," John blinked, "They're going somewhere."

"That's what usually happens when a woman meets a man at a café and then they decide to go back to a room so they can-"

"I've had this talk and I don't need it from you. Especially when it's not what they're doing."

"How'd you mean?"

"You said he's not who we're looking for but maybe he's leading her to who we're looking for." John set down the change for his drink and took it from the table to follow the couple. "Worst case scenario, I propose a three-some and we get her that way."

"I never saw you going for that."

"I wouldn't, but that's kind of the point. She wouldn't expect it and I could get the upper hand." John waited a moment, following them to a carpark. "And I think you're looking for him?"

"Yes we are."

John watched the trio debating and sucked the inside of his cheek. "What's the order?"

"Think you can get them all?"

"I'd rather get Vera but I think they're moving to another location."

"They just keep moving."

"It's annoying." John eyed his options and then grabbed the handlebars of a scooter as the others got into a car together. "I've never had anything feel this emasculating."

"Don't worry, you're only a little way from the salvation. Once you land somewhere then you'll get the help of the police."

"Not sure I want to trust the French Police with this."

"Unless you've got two other sets of arms then you'll need them."

"Long as you leave Vera to me then I don't care who you have to call to get me the help I need." John steered the scooter after their car, weaving between the traffic as they headed toward the ocean side. "Think she's making a deal?"

"We'll only know as long as you follow her… on that ridiculous scooter."

"I wish you wouldn't laugh so hard in my ear."

"It's funny, imagining you scooting down the street on that trundling moped."

"I hate you so much."

John steered down the lanes and pulled just shy of the boats docked with the all the other pleasure cruisers. Waiting a moment, he left the scooter and strolled down the wooden dock in his still-wet clothes. He watched the trio reach a boat as another woman came to the edge.

"Henry?" John narrowed his eyes at the woman, "What's Mary Crawley doing on that boat?"

"Shit!" John almost jumped at the volume in his ear. "Abort John, they've got this mission and we need to get you the hell out of here."

"Who's got this mission?"

"Sector Seven."

"Who?"

"Not us."

John sucked the inside of his cheek, "I did not come all the way to Nice and wait around just to let Vera slip through my fingers."

"We have to John. This is a sting from-"

Shouts came from down the dock and gunfire echoed in his ears. John ducked down a moment, catching sight of Vera speeding toward him while her partners fired on the boat. He stepped out and flung out an arm, bracing for the inevitable impact.

Vera ran right into him, clotheslining herself to land flat on her back on the dock. The air evacuated her lungs as John kneeled over her and snapped handcuffs on her wrists. "Nice to see you again Vera."

She only growled as he lifted her to her feet. Sirens and shouting surrounded them as John dug into his pocket for his badge, flashing it at the police who stormed the dock. He risked a look over his shoulder to see Mary Crawley striding toward them with her own badge and weapon in the air.

"If you could all please calm down then I can explain everything." She turned to John, "Fancy seeing you here Bates."

"And you Ms. Crawley."

"It's actually Mrs. Crawley now. Matthew and I decided to finally tie the knot."

"I hope it was dramatic."

"We were skydiving into Japan when he asked me."

"Did your father know?"

Mary snorted, handing her badge over to the insistent agent. "He's the one who told Matthew to ask me then."

"Good on him." John handed over his badge, "How'd you draw her out?"

"I didn't know it was going to be your ex-wife." Mary leaned around John to look at Vera, "I'm surprised to see you're still alive after that fiasco in Barcelona."

Vera did not respond.

"I guess she thinks she'll get a chance at the silent treatment." John shrugged, "But if you don't mind taking those two I think we'd like her."

"It'd be professional discourteous for me not to." Mary leaned toward John's ear, "And Mr. Talbot, if you could try not to aim the cameras at my ass and remember I'm a married woman… that'd be lovely."

John laughed to himself when he noticed the cameras all take distinctive turns away. "I guess this isn't your father asking we come work for him again?"

"He's not going to bargain you away from MI6 unless you want to be away John." Mary took her badge back, tucking her gun in place. "But we'd love to have you and Mr. Talbot at Sector Seven."

"I'm due some vacation here before I go back to work."

"I'm sure they'll take your resignation with immediate effect and we can work out the other details." Mary nodded toward the men on the dock, "I need to make sure the French don't lose them because I think we'll break them before you can break her."

"You're probably right but this is more a moment of personal pride than it is about breaking her." John put a hand on Vera's shoulder. "Thank you for the help by the way."

"Don't mention it." Mary winked at him, "And don't mention us."

"Wouldn't dream of it." John walked Vera toward the cars and helped her into one of them. "I hope you get comfortable with this small space here."

"I'll be out in a day."

"I'm sure you think you will but, see, this time," John crouched so their faces were on an even level. "Carlisle can't save you."

"And why's that?"

"Because he's in prison already." John shut the door and turned to the nearest officer, "We need to discuss how she's getting back to England."


	4. Durum Meruit

Anna checked her phone, frowning at the number before sliding on it to answer and wincing her apologies to Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson. "Hello?"

"Doctor Smith, this is John Bates. We met last night."

"That does sound familiar. Are you the man who invited me for a run in the ocean?"

"That would be me, yes."

"Then I do remember you." Anna smiled, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb any of the other diners. "I thought we were meeting for lunch."

"We are but I wanted to know what kind of food you'd prefer."

"I'm not picky unless it's kale and quinoa."

There was a pause, "Is that because you want them or-"

"I'm not a rabbit so it's a no, to both of those. And any other weird, organic, all-natural crap you'll just pay for in ridiculous markup."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Wait," Anna held up a hand, "Why do you ask?"

"It's a surprise and you'll find out if you meet me on that little stretch of beach we went to yesterday."

"I think I can manage that." Anna checked her watch, "What time?"

"I'm thinking one. It's siesta time and we'll have a bit of beach to ourselves."

"We're not in Spain."

"Then it'll surprise you to know they do siestas in many parts of the world." She could hear the smile on his end of the line. "I'll see you in a few hours Doctor Smith."

"Only if you'll call me 'Anna'. I don't do lunch dates under professional titles unless I've passed around a business card or a CV."

"I'll remember. Until then."

The called ended and Anna returned to the table where Mrs. Hughes stirred at her tea and Mr. Carson turned over his shoulder to argue a detail of the bill with the waiter. Mrs. Hughes set her spoon to the side as Anna got comfortable in her chair again and nodded at her. "I hope that means you've plans for your day besides reading over your thesis."

"I thought you were supposed to tell me how I could improve my thesis and then whip me into shape about getting it done."

"As it is you'll have it finished, presented, and defended in less than two years. That's faster than I did mine and most of my students would have to say the same." Mrs. Hughes sipped at her tea and reached out a hand to put on Mr. Carson's arm when he went to argue something else about the bill. "Just pay for the meal, dear. It's not going to break the bank over pence and shillings."

"They're scamming us."

"It's a tourist town, it's part of the expectation." Mrs. Hughes reached for her pocketbook but Mr. Carson stopped her. "Will you behave then?"

"Yes." He grumbled and paid the bill, "I still think it's highway robbery."

Anna laughed into her coffee, "I rather think Mrs. Hughes is right and it's just to be expected."

"All the same, it's the principle that matters."

"Of course dear." Mrs. Hughes patted his arm and then rolled her eyes in Anna's direction so she could snort into her drink. "But, about your schedule for the rest of the summer."

"Yes," Anna set down her cup, "You need a teaching assistant as well as research?"

"I think they've got someone to do my grading and keep my classes in order so you'll be in the lab when you're not out on the boat doing dives." Mrs. Hughes frowned, "I can't believe I didn't ask if you kept up your certifications."

"I'm all up to date, don't worry." Anna shrugged, "I wasn't going to let them lapse when I want to spend my career in the water."

"If they let you then absolutely but they'll probably snatch you up at some University somewhere so you can try and bring others into the research."

"I'm not eye candy."

"You're more attractive than most they're graduating in this field and like it or not but appearances matter."

"But you just told me you're keeping me out of your classrooms this summer."

"Because I'm just a guest lecturer. What I need is a researcher to help me get the information I need for the publication we're putting out in December."

Anna hissed, "That's cutting it rather fine isn't it?"

"That's why I needed you here when Ethel dropped out."

"Why did Ethel drop out?"

Mrs. Hughes set her jaw, "Pregnancy."

"I didn't know Ethel-"

"There was a Frenchman piloting the boat we chartered for her term here and they happened to find one another rather attractive."

"So," Anna rubbed a finger along the grains of the table. "If I happened to meet someone then-"

"The problem wasn't that Ethel was fraternizing with someone. I'm not such a prude that I don't know what happens to people who find one another attractive. My frustration was it compromised our research." Mrs. Hughes ticked off on her fingers, "No students, not our pilots, none of the other divers, and no professors. It's all in the packet of papers everyone signs before they agree to work with me."

"Maybe Ethel didn't read them closely enough."

"Or maybe she didn't care to when a French accent and a decent looking man flashed one too many perfect smiles at her."

"I guess." Anna finished her drink, "So you'll have the schedule?"

"By tomorrow. It'll be mostly day diving but there are a few night dives scheduled and there'll be a lot of lab time. Running simulations and machine testing. Are you up on all the latest programs?"

"I should be. I slaved away with two of them for the last six months to finalize the research for my 'Data' section."

"And speaking of your thesis. I'm giving you Thursday afternoons specifically for writing it and we'll meet Friday mornings for review. You'll get Friday afternoons and your weekends free to do what you will." Mrs. Hughes smiled, "I don't want you spending all of your time in France tapped in a lab or a diving mask if I can help it."

"But you still want to publish by December."

"We all want to publish but I'm not a cruel taskmaster and I need someone I trust for the research. If I drive you off then who do I ever get again?"

"Maybe a nice Frenchman." Anna teased, noting the rise of color in Mr. Carson's face.

"She doesn't need a Frenchman."

"She's just having you on Charles Carson and you know it." Mrs. Hughes swatted her hand at him before catching sight of her watch. "Oh, if we don't hurry we'll be late for service. If you want to come, Anna."

"Not this week, thank you."

They left the bistro and Anna kissed Mrs. Hughes on both cheeks, Mr. Carson on one, and turned toward the beach. Her drawstring bag beat against her back but Anna barely noticed. Taking the stairs down to the beach, she found a nice spot and settled on the sand before renting one of the lockers for her things.

With the key on a cord around her wrist, Anna took to the water. Even with all the tourists taking up the beach and the water, when Anna dunked her head under it was as if none of them existed. She swam as far as the buoys would allow and held her breath to swim into the darker water.

Her toes hit the sand of the bottom and she tread water to keep herself under. Occasionally she checked her watch before shooting for the surface. She did this over and over again, checking how long she could hold her breath, and finally broke the surface when she reached four minutes.

Black spots dancing and flirted at the edges of her vision but Anna took deep breaths to match her long strokes and when she reached the sand of the beach again her breathing returned to normal. Her feet hit the sand and immediately stuck to her wet skin but she weaved between the towels and debris of the beach to find the spot where she and John sat the night before. The spot where he waited for her with a grand picnic laid out before him.

Anna smiled, sitting down carefully, and finally noticed the way John's jaw gaped. "Do I have something on me?"

"I think it's more what you don't have on you." He swallowed, hurrying to look away and Anna looked down at her suit.

"It's just swimwear."

"I wasn't expecting you to be wearing it for lunch."

"I'll be honest," Anna took the towel he offered, drying herself and rearranging her sitting position so she was on the towel. "I don't usually wear a bikini on a first date but I was swimming a moment ago and I didn't give myself time to change."

"Swimming?"

"That is what one does in the water."

"It didn't look like swimming." John put the basket between them, popping the catches to open it and remove the contents.

"Oh?" Anna gathered her wet hair to put it over one shoulder. "And what did it look like to you?"

"You were free diving."

"I wasn't deep enough for that." Anna took the bottle of water he passed her. "But given you actually seem to have a clue what that is, I'm curious if you've ever done it."

"I did when I was transferred from the SAS to the SBS."

"If I took that just on the placement of the acronym I'd assume it was a step down."

He laughed, "Not everything is alphabetical."

"Obviously not." She set down the bottle, "Tell me, what is the SBS?"

"Special Boat Service."

"Doesn't sound too intimidating."

"It's part of the charm." John finished laying out the other things from the basket between them. "I hope you enjoy finger food."

"Depends, do you think licking something off one's fingers is repulsive?" Anna met his eyes and her skin prickled.

"That depends significantly on what one is licking."

"Careful Mr. Bates of I'll come off all insensible in public." Anna smiled but she noted how his eyes traced the red blush on her skin. "And I'm curious what finger foods you picked out for us."

"I'll admit it's a bit Italian but I'm all for cheese, bread, oil, and meat platters so that's what we've got." He extracted a bottle and two durable glasses. "And while I think wine should normally be decanted and then sipped from fine glassware, I hope you'll forgive the setting making that a little impossible."

"It's romantic enough with the ocean right here." Anna took the offered glass. "Though I hope it's a white. I don't usually do red before dinner."

"Any particular reason?"

"I happen to think that reds belong where romance has a chance to bloom in a bit more… traditional way." She hurried to explain as John raised an eyebrow. "Not to sound too… forward, but red wine usually means someone's getting laid."

"Had a lot of red wine have you?"

"No and it's been the measure of those willing to go the distance." Anna grinned at the pop of the cork, "Anyone who offers me fish and chips followed by beer usually just wanted a quick shag and that's not fun."

"No?"

"Not now that I'm not in my first year at Uni." Anna held her cup steady as John poured. "Back when no one knew what they were doing it was fine because you didn't know better. But now that I'm older I think I'd prefer to be wooed a bit first."

"I hope you don't think this is wooing."

"I think this is adulting, as they say." Anna sipped at her glass, "And nice choie on the white."

"Wines are my pastime."

"You collect them?"

"I don't make enough money to do that." John smiled, sipping at his own before popping the container lids. "I'm trying to taste them all and that's a bit more difficult."

"You already told me you travel a lot. Must mean you get a lot of opportunities to try a lot of different fare." Anna picked a chunk of bread to dip in the oil and then the balsamic vinegar. "That's got to put you close to your goal."

"Yes and no. Yes in the fact I travel a lot and there's a lot of opportunity there and yes because it means I've racked up quite a list. But also no because I usually need to stay clearheaded and no because once you've seen how many options there are you tend to feel a bit downcast about your chances."

"So you're suffering the paradox of choice?"

"Often." John wrapped a bit of cheese in one of the meat choices. "But such is life, as they say here."

"I think they say it a bit differently."

"And with an accent." John chuckled with her. "But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"What's got you free diving in your time off?"

"Just the silence I suppose." Anna shrugged, leaning back on her elbows to look at the water. "You are alone with your thoughts in the water and that's a lovely place to be."

"I'm not sure I'd want to be alone with my thoughts."

"And what kind of thoughts, pray tell, does a government auditor have that are so horrible he doesn't want to be alone with them?" Anna turned toward John, grinning as she reached for a few of the grapes and matched them to cheese.

"It's more the boredom of those thoughts." John shuddered, "I'd fear falling asleep down there just thinking of the spreadsheets and accounts and the numbers and the…"

He pantomimed falling asleep talking about it and Anna laughed, "But you said you trained to do it in the SBS."

"I did."

"So how does a former officer in the SAS and the SBS end up working in government auditing?"

"Do I not look the type?"

"You're the first auditor I've ever met so I can't really say." Anna finished her water bottle. "But it's not what I would've assumed if you showed me your CV first."

"It's more that I knew someone in government and I needed a job when I discharged."

"Couldn't take the physical toll?"

"More the mental toll." Anna stopped when she noticed his expression. "There's something that happens when you've pushed yourself to the limit like that and you can't keep it up forever. It's why most of the people in my former profession remain single or end up divorced."

"Couldn't take the toll?"

"It was one of the contributors to my divorce." John shrugged, "But, after it ended, I think it was better we did split."

"Can I ask why?" Anna hesitated, her hand over more of the food.

"You know how you said you did things in your first year at Uni because you didn't know you could have better?" Anna nodded. "It was like that. We thought the other was the best thing we could get because we didn't know better."

"And you married?"

"In a rush and then spent the next ten years paying for that." John took a dip of the oil and vinegar for his bread before selecting a few of the cheese cubes. "I spent so much of the critical time at the front end deployed or training that I barely saw her. So when she cheated on me I forgave it because I thought it was my fault."

"And now?"

"Now I realize I owed her more time than I gave her but her decisions were here own."

"Where's she now… if I can ask." Anna cringed, "If it's too personal-"

"She's back in England I think." John shrugged, "I guess I should care more about it but we kind of broke one another to the point where we couldn't find it in ourselves to care about each other."

He faced her, "That sounds horrible, when I say it out loud."

"It doesn't sound good, no." Anna sipped at her wine. "But we all grow up and learn sometime right?"

"I don't know if I've learned like I should've." John lay back on his elbows, staring out at the water. "I think that's why I was so intrigued by you."

"What?"

John held up a hand, "Not in a bad way."

"That's not helping me feel better."

"I'm mucking it up rather badly, aren't I?" John adjusted his position so he could talk with his hands. "The way you described what you love, what you do, why you do it… I never had a conversation that passionate with anyone before. I didn't think I could because my training makes you shut down a lot of those emotions. You have to or you'd go mad doing what we do."

"Do?"

"Did," John shook his head, "It sticks with you for a long time and it's why so many of us never leave services like it. We can't turn it back on again so we find work that helps us stay empty."

"Like government auditing?"

"Go ahead and laugh," John waved off her joke, "It does sound ridiculous and I don't blame your response."

"Seriously though," When Anna got herself under control enough to speak, "You don't miss your old work?"

"No," John shook his head. "I can't miss it because I was a different person when I did it. I couldn't be that man again and I wouldn't want to be him. Not anymore."

"Someone once said we put on different suits when we want to be different people." Anna pulled her knees to her chest and rested her arms on them, turning to face John. "Do you still have that suit in your wardrobe?"

"It might be in a box somewhere." He grabbed for the bottle and held it up, "Would you like more wine Ms. Smith?"

"I think I would." She held her cup towards him, "And I think you chose wisely for the meal."

"Just wait until you see dessert."

They finished the food and John revealed dessert was a walk up the beach to the man selling ice creams out of a little trolley. Anna laughed and chose her cone with care, waiting for John to pick one, and they walked back toward their basket. On impulse she dotted his chin and nose with her cone when he asked for a lick and he returned the favor until they were sprinting after one another up the beach and then into the water to avoid being covered in the mess.

It was there, when John caught her in the water that reached to his waist, that Anna leaned forward to kiss him. It was quick, and not entirely romantic, but when he put his hand on the side of her face and drew her in for a second one Anna melted in his arms. They held there, neither daring to do anything but feel the other, until John finally had to let go so they could both breathe.

"Wow," Anna sighed, loosening her grip on his shirt and noticing the wrinkles she put there. "That was…"

"Fantastic." John breathed, his fingers still moving over her face as if he could not bare to lose his hold on her. "And I'd like to do it again some time."

"Possibly after dinner?" Anna offered, "Unless you've another engagement."

"I'm actually on holiday, as of last night."

"Really?"

"Really." John grinned, leading her back up the beach, heedless of his sopping clothing. "We finished the audit last night and I'm taking my well-earned holiday."

"Or hard-earned holiday seeing as you have such a boring job." Anna teased, helping to clean up the mess and led them back to the locker where she could get her things back and they could rinse off in the outdoor taps.

"Whatever definition you want to give it, it's mine and I'm taking it here. Which means," John caught her hand, pulling it to his lips to kiss it. "I'm at your command."

"Then I think dinner would be a fantastic choice."

"Dinner it is." He kissed her hand again and then left a brief but deep kiss on her lips. "I'll arrange it and then pick you up at eight?"

"I'll be waiting."

"Until then, Anna." He took the remains of their picnic back up the beach and Anna watched him go, sighing to herself.

"Oh Anna you're in trouble now."


	5. Carpe Noctem

John pulled at his tie and raised his hand to knock on the door to the little flat. She opened the door and for a moment John's breath left his body. All he could do was stare at the vision before him, dressed in a color he had no word to describe because 'blue' felt too small, and with a smile that dragged a sensation from the depths of his soul he wondered if he should just associate with her from that point onward.

"Are you alright?"

"I…" John coughed, "I really have no idea how to answer that question."

"In a good way or a-" Anna's brow furrowed and John hurried to stop the end of her question so the disapproving wrinkles would have no reason to stay permanently creased on her forehead.

"Only ever in a good way." John offered his arm. "Shall we?"

"Yes, after…" He took his turn to frown as Anna leaned forward and tugged his tie enough to loosen it. She slipped it from his collar and wrapped it over her hand before tucking the material into his suit pocket. "Much better. Now I don't feel like I'm about to go to an interview."

"I'm sure no interview you've ever been in had you dressed as beautifully as you are now." John waited as Anna pulled her door shut and locked it with a key she tucked into her clutch.

"That's true. My business suits usually do the trick and I don't add much beyond that." She placed her hand on his arm and they walked toward the street together. "But I have a feeling their eyes weren't nearly as flattering as yours either."

"How'd you mean?"

"They tended to stare instead of compliment." Anna shrugged a shoulder, "I might even use the term 'leer' but I guess I'm used to that kind of behavior from pudgy men in power positions."

"Did any of them have the name for the color of the dress you're wearing?" John raised a hand and a car down the street flashed its lights before rolling to a stop right before them. "Because I feel 'blue' is inadequate."

"It's cerulean." Anna put a hand to her chest as John opened the door for her, "My, my, a real gentleman in this day and age."

"I'm just grateful you're someone who appreciates when someone wants to hold the door for them." John waited for her to get inside and then followed her, passing a note to the driver before settling back in his seat. "And I think I've only heard that color once."

"If it's because you visited a high class jazz bar in London then I'll know you've got to be lying about the job you do." John's jaw tightened but relaxed almost as soon as Anna continued, "You've got to be more than an auditor to get a seat at the tables at the Cerulean Swan."

"I may've mooched off a friend to get into a party there once but they were also having an opening and it was a big deal."

"Didn't someone get shot at the opening?"

"The second one. I was at the first." John shrugged, "And you're right, I'd have to be more than an auditor to get in there. It's finer dining than we'll be having."

"As long as there's more food on my plate than artistry I don't mind." Anna leaned back in her seat, "I can't stand the idea of high priced food that only cleanses the palate. What's the point of food you barely eat?"

"Not much." John waited a moment, "What else did you do with your day?"

"Went to tour the campus and the lab. I start tomorrow and I don't want to be rushing about not knowing where everything is." Anna shuddered, "The worst fear of my life is setting a poor impression for the students."

"Why'd you think you will?"

"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not very physically imposing and I happen to struggle with people taking me seriously."

"I could see them underestimating you to their detriment." John bit down on his lip, thinking a moment. "Most of the women I knew in the SBS, already hard fought to be there, weren't the kind of people you'd expect and that always gave them an advantage."

"How so?"

"You expect women of a certain class to do the things we did." John used his hands, motioning in the air as he tried to find the right words. "People assume that secret service or MI6 agents all wear fine suits and have these huge expense accounts and look like James Bond or whatever but most of the people I met looked normal. That was their skill. If you walk down the street and you look like Timothy Dalton in his younger years-"

"I don't know, he did look rather dashing in _Penny Dreadful_."

"Point taken," John nodded at her, "But those kinds of people get noticed. You need the woman who looks like a grandmother just puttering down the street or who might be tugging a reluctant husband to go and look at jewelry or with three kinds hanging off their arms or legs. You need people who look so cripplingly normal you'll ignore them."

"I don't think I've ever considered being called 'cripplingly normal' a compliment before."

"It shouldn't be because you're not." John met her eyes, tongue darting out to wet his lips so he could slide words over them. "Those who underestimate you are the same idiots who'd underestimate those women who didn't look like they could take your pen and kill you ten different ways with it. Don't pay them any mind."

"And how does one fight back when they need those people to survive?"

"Swallow it and then bury them later." John held her gaze until Anna turned away. "People like that only go away when you prove you're better than them by beating them at their own game."

"Have you beaten many of them at their own game?"

"I beat many of them." John settled back in his seat, "My female coworkers beat the game."

"But you don't underestimate me."

"How can I?" John opened the door as the car pulled to a stop and extended his hand to her, "I realized I'd never get the full measure of you the moment I started talking with you."

"Really?" Anna put her smaller hand in his and slid over the seat to join him, her heels making the distance between them just slightly less. "What else?"

"That I wanted to do my damnedest to try." He opened his arm toward the little house, lit with a soft glow from lights dotting the front and the terrace where a table for two waited. "After you."

He led them into the small house, through an open sitting room that looked out over the bay, and to the terrace. The wind blew softly enough to disturb the tiny hairs that escaped the tight arrangement of gold on Anna's head but not enough to bother the tablecloth. It fluttered lightly as John drew the chair back and waited for Anna to sit down.

"I feel like you've forgotten to get the waiter." Anna motioned to the space around them as John walked the space behind her chair to push a cart forward.

"Tonight, I'm the waiter." John pulled back the first lid on the cart and opened his hand for Anna's plate. "Though I don't claim to have made any of this food alone."

"You don't cook?"

"Not like this." John served her and then himself, closing the first lid and taking the decanted wine to pour into their glasses. "I can do all the basics and a few fancy things. This was the work of a very excited French woman who rents me the top of her house."

"Where's the bottom?"

John pointed beneath them and then took his seat. "She renovated the upper levels to be a completely separate apartment space. The business I'm auditing put me here for the duration of the audit and I just extended the contract with her to keep the space."

"I'm surprised they didn't just force you into a hotel."

"She's a friend of someone's mother or something and she likes the company." John raised his glass, "I think we forget that the elderly get lonely."

"All too often," Anna raised her glass as well. "What's the toast?"

"To eating food that does more than cleanse the palate." John clinked his glass against hers. "Dig in."

The first and second courses disappeared without delay so when John opened the third lid Anna almost groaned. "I'm convinced you're just fattening me up."

"If this looked a bit more like a cottage covered in candy that might just be my intention." John winked at her, keeping the portion a bit smaller. "But it's not and you're safe with me."

"I should hope so. Someone working to keep the money of the treasury safe should be capable of keeping me safe as well." Anna waited until he sat back down to dig into her food again. "You said, earlier, that you took the job because a friend offered it to you."

"That's correct." John paused, fork almost to his mouth. "Is there more to that statement because it felt like a question."

"I was just wondering what kind of friend you make in the SBS that then brings you into the land of cubicles and unfashionable white shirts that cut off before the elbow."

John laughed, taking a sip from his glass before pointing to the bottle. "Before I explain that, would you like another glass?"

"White doesn't really go with red meat."

"Which is why I have a red." John put the cork back into the first bottle and removed another chilled bottle to open. "Would you prefer some of this?"

"I do hope this is a suggestion and an invitation wrapped in a very innocuous statement." Anna put her glass forward and John poured.

"It's recognition of your earlier statement but no," John filled his own glass and retook his seat. "I promise you, I want anything of that kind I'll ask for it in terms that can't be confused."

"Now you've got me far too intrigued." Anna sipped at her glass, "Most of the government types I've met can barely look up from their shoes at me."

"I was SAS and SBS, I don't do nervous." John shrugged, "But I did study maths at Uni but when I finished I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I stumbled into a recruiting station and signed my life away for a bit. That's when I found what I could do, what I was good at, and then realized that I didn't want that forever."

"Was your divorce part of that?"

John snorted, "Part of it. I realized there were things I wanted more than just the thrill of being on the front lines. Things I wouldn't get if I was gone for months on end. So I accepted an offer from a friend working in audits and now here I am."

"You meet him at school?"

"Yes. We both enlisted at the same time but he was always in Administration because he was smarter than me." John smiled at Anna's raised eyebrow. "He's one of those people with an IQ several deviations above the genius level."

"Really?"

"Those people do exist."

"Not usually outside of movies because, in real life, they've got to be followed by a minder at all times or they'll start measuring the exact distance between each line in a carpark." Anna smiled at John's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I've met a few people that cracked the glass ceiling of genius and they were… socially inept in every way."

"Sure they just weren't devastated by your beauty and unable to speak in your presence?"

"There were a few, I'll be honest, in some of my classes that took entire terms to work themselves up to just asking if I pronounced my name 'Ann-Na' or 'Ah-Na' so there's that."

"I think I would've been dumbfounded for how to speak to you if I didn't have the excuse of your bumping into me." John grinned as the low light reflected the red tinge to her cheeks. "I can sympathize with them on a very deep level."

"You're just being facetious and I can tell." Anna took another drink from her glass. "But you've got me curious about something else now."

"And what might that be?"

"You said you quit your job because there was something you wanted more," John noted how Anna dragged her fork lightly over her plate, eyes not quite meeting his. "I was curious what you meant by that."

John blew out, "Sure you've brought enough couch space for this conversation?"

"I'm sure I can dig deep to find my inner therapist."

"I wanted a family." John sat back in his chair. "It's odd how it takes losing something to realize you wanted it go in a different direction."

"Like children?"

"Like children." He took a deep breath. "My wife and I married in a rush and then we realized we didn't belong together. It was… ugly, to say the least, and part of the reason why I spent so much time away. But I think I always thought, at the back of my mind, we'd figure it out and then move forward."

John shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest to look out over the water. "I guess we tell ourselves the lives that make it easier to accept we've cocked it all up."

"Did she want children?"

"No and I always hoped she'd change her mind." John adjusted his chair. "Looking back she as never the mothering type and having a child would've ended our relationship as quickly as everything else."

"But you still want that?"

"Of course I do." John tired to laugh but it caught in his throat. "I wanted someone who'd want children with me so we could have a kick around the garden or maybe endure slammed doors after they told us we were ruining their lives by making them wear something school appropriate. I wanted every argument, every tear, every smile, and every excited giggle but now I've gotten used to the idea that it'll probably never happen."

"Why not?"

"Because now I wear button short sleeve button downs and I've got reading glasses." John laughed and Anna returned the expression. "Tell me that's attractive and I'll tell you about a bridge I'd like to sell you."

"At the risk of getting too deep on the first date-"

"We crossed the Rubicon on the beach yesterday." John waved a hand at it, "I think we're beyond the kinds of things you talk about on a first date."

"Alright then." Anna scooted her chair forward and waited until John met her eyes. "I want all of those things too. I want them with someone I trust and who trusts me. I want them with someone who'll accept that I'll be away on boats for weeks at a time and is alright with the fact that I get excited talking about microbial life in the water. Someone who will endure all the minutia of extremely tedious research studies and journals just to have a night off where we go dancing and maybe do a little something more."

She licked her lips, swallowing in what John guessed was an effort to stop her throat drying out. "But those things aren't easy to find in someone."

"Maybe we both need to look harder."

"And accept that maybe it'll take time to find." Anna's finger flexed and then settled over his hand. "I think we deserve the people that'll help that be a reality for us."

"You think there's someone out there for everyone?"

"I think we find the people we're willing to make the someone out there." Anna drew back, shrugging and nodding toward the fourth lid. "I hope there's dessert in there."

"And it's chocolate."

They finished dinner, John carting the dishes to the kitchen and starting when Anna joined him to help. Leftovers went into containers and the dirty dishes loaded into the washer that John shut with a definitive snap after filling the soap container. He smiled at her, opening his hand toward the door.

"Shall we?"

"Already?"

"You've got class tomorrow and you explicitly told me you want to be taken seriously."

"I don't know if that's exactly what I said but I'll welcome you looking out for me and my professionalism." Anna gathered her clutch and followed John back outside where the car appeared just like before. "How does an auditor afford a driver?"

"It's just prescheduled Uber." John opened the door for her. "Everyone affords that these days."

"Right." Anna slid into the car. "Because there are Uber drivers with cars this nice."

"You'd be surprised."

The drive back to her flat was quiet, John casting occasional looks down where Anna's hand rested between them on the seat, but only shifting his fingers close enough to barely brush over her hand. He caught the smile on her face and turned it into a game between them. His fingers edged closer to hers until he laced between them. After a moment she ran her thumb over the skin of his hand and drew her fingers back. But instead of retreating, she rasped her nails over his skin.

John gave a little shiver, only catching the widening grin on her face in her periphery of his vision. Just as he went to edge toward her the driver stopped and Anna turned to him. "I believe you've successfully brought me back to mine, Mr. Bates."

"Seems I have." John nodded at the driver in the mirror and opened the door, once again offering Anna his hand to help her out. They walked to her door, their fingers running over one another but never actually holding hands. Once they reached the door John turned to her, dropping into a deep bow. "You have been brought safely back to your door."

"Seems I have." Anna's fingers worked over her clutch, her other hand not reaching for the door. "But I'm not sure I'm ready for the evening to be over."

"No?" John risked a step nearer, entering her personal space. "What would make it over for you?"

"That depends." Anna met his gaze and John forced himself to swallow.

"Depends on what?"

"On if you're going to be very clear when you ask about the red wine."

"Ms. Smith," John raised his hand to cup Anna's cheek, the callouses on his thumb catching on the smooth skin there. "May I kiss you?"

"I think I'd like that very much."

He dipped his head and paused just a fraction of an inch from her lips. She closed the distance in an instant and then the whole world spun on its axis. John tried to get closer to her but there was nowhere else to go but deeper and when he tested it she opened to him immediately.

Like their kiss on the beach, this one held all the passion and promise between them. But, unlike their kiss at the beach, this one reeked of the emotions they bottled inside them. The dreams and hopes and wishes for futures they both feared they may never get to have. Their essence poured from one into the other until there was no way to disentangle whose troubles and triumphs were whose.

And then the world spun again.

John pulled back, trying to pull air through his nose so as to keep the taste of her trapped behind his lips. Their eyes met in the darkness and Anna hurriedly dug into her clutch to retrieve her key and opened the door. Both stared at it until Anna took his hand and tugged him inside.

"Are you sure?"

"Very." Anna went to kiss him again, pushing at the door to close it and John helped her. "I want this very much and I'm very sure."

Before their lips could meet again a rocking noise came through the floor. John looked up, Anna echoing him, and then they heard it again. This time it was followed by a giggle. The noises escalated and when they finally met one another's gaze they had to work to stifle their laughter.

"I think we're competing when the people upstairs."

"Maybe." John smiled and held Anna's face gently between his hands like she was the most valuable thing he ever saw. "But I say we give them something to compete against."

"Yes please."

Their lips met and they said no more. Somehow he managed to get rid of his suit jacket and shoes without tripping himself in the tight confines of the flat. Her shoes thumped on the floor and John bent himself over all the more now to meet her halfway so she was not stumbling to stay on her tiptoes.

Together they worked into her bedroom and when Anna reached for his shirt John caught her hands. She frowned and he looked up at the ceiling where the consistent thud mixed with over exaggerated moans. He took the moment to kiss along her neck to her ear, whispering there as she shivered.

"They're the kind who shag after a cheap dinner and cheaper booze." John drew back, his lips skimming over her cheeks to tease at her lips. "This isn't going to be like that."

Anna did not respond but relaxed in his hold. John worked his feet from his socks as he brought her fingers to his shirt buttons and demonstrated how to remove them slowly. He managed his cuffs while his lips worked over the skin exposed by her dress and traced down toward the hint of cleavage there. She gasped and John removed his shirt before shifting them closer to her bed.

Again they paused and Anna bent her arms to work the zipper of her dress down her back. The sight of the material slipping down her arms to finally pool at her feet sucked all the air from John's chest and it took her fingers at his belt buckle to bring him back to the moment. A slip of leather and the soft clink of the metal echoed in his ears before she managed to open his trousers.

He stepped clear of the material and finally placed his hands on Anna's exposed skin. If he lived a hundred years he could never be reverent enough to touch her the way she deserved. But her whimper when he caressed the side of her breast through her bra or the moan when his fingers happened to sculpt over her ass convinced John he could spend the rest of his life trying to do just that… and he wanted to.

John tipped Anna toward the bed, holding her as gently as he could manage before letting her lie on the blanket there. She reached a hand for him but instead he held back, waiting for her confusion before placing his lips to her ankles. He traced the marks from her shoe straps and laid a line of kisses up to her hip.

His hands pressed into the bed, depressing the mattress beneath her to move over her knickers and leave a shining line just under their hem with his tongue. She gasped out and John worked to her right hip, trailing down to echo his earlier motions on her other ankle. Each kiss brought her closer to him but John did not rise to the bait. Instead, he kissed each leg in a zigzag fashion as his shoulders opened her legs for him.

There, with his mouth a hairsbreadth from her knickers, he paused to hear her keen and then ran his tongue along the dark line. Anna practically howled and one of her hands carded through his hair to find a hold at the back of his skull. John just grinned and sucked her through the material.

It moved and shifted over her skin, the muscles tightening in concert with the efforts and the heat coming off her matched only by the darkening stain John tried to trace and swallow. One of his hands massaged her quivering thighs and the other worked her knickers so he could enter her with first one and then two fingers. The action pulled the material low enough for his mouth to find her clit and suck there instead.

Anna came almost immediately. Her legs tried to tighten around his head but John adjusted to keep his shoulders in the way so his fingers and tongue could work her down from her high. A high that left her panting and quivering under him so trying to remove her knickers proved more difficult than he originally imagined if he wanted to not tear them from her. But she settled as John left them on her floor and joined her on the bed.

She turned her head to him, one of her hands trying to stroke over his cheek but her fingers shook so badly John had to help her. He shifted, kissing her palm, and waited until Anna's body settled a bit more. "Do you want to continue."

"Please."

John dropped his head, kissing over her skin and down to her bra. He paused there, dragging his teeth between skin and the material until Anna lifted up enough for him to help her out of it. The gentle thud of the material hitting the floor muffled to the thunder of blood rushing through his ears.

His kisses and nips were nothing compared to what he wanted to leave there. Awe and adoration went into every stroke of his tongue and his fingers until Anna's leg moved over his hip to buck toward him. She rubbed along his hardening erection and John almost bit down to stop himself before he realized it was not his lip but her skin under him. Instead, he grunted and shifted to bring his fingers back to her clit.

His thumb pressed and ran over her while his fingers returned to her clenching muscles to work her open. The slick run of her over his fingers only brought him closer when her leg tightened and a hard suck at her breast sent her over the edge again. An edge John wanted to bring her back to again but only if he could join her there. A task made more difficult by the tightened leg over his hip and the almost inescapable clutch of her vaginal walls around his fingers.

But he extricated himself, leaving Anna moaning and panting on the bed. His boxers dropped, the darkened stain there matched by the shine on her, and John had to force himself to find the condom in his wallet before he joined Anna on the bed again. Before he could roll it on her hands, still with a tremor to them, covered his and John looked up at her.

Anna took the rubber and rolled it on, a grin gracing her face when she brushed him and he groaned. Even the haze in her eyes and the relaxed state she occupied was nothing to stop her encircling him and pulling him down over her with a squeeze. Their lips finally met again and Anna's reaction to the taste of her in his mouth bucked John's hips toward hers. They shifted enough for John to place himself at her entrance, and then he waited.

"Please." Was all Anna could mutter in his ear before he joined them.

The creak of the bed was nothing. The solid thunk of the headboard hitting the back wall was nothing. And even the occasional noises from above them was nothing. There was nothing in the world but them and their movements.

Not artistic or glamorous in any way. And when Anna's nails dug into his side and raked over his ass they lost any sense of rhythm. John could not recall ever wanting to be more romantic and failing so miserably at the same time but the response from Anna seemed more than sufficient. The moment she came for the third time, John was finished.

To say it took all of his training not to collapse would not have been far from the truth. He managed to shift them enough to move onto his side so he could face Anna and adjusted to remove the condom before laying next to her. Her eyes closed, her breathing steady and less labored the longer he waited, her skin shimmering with the sheen of sweat they left there, and finally Anna looked at him.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm not alright." Anna put a finger over his mouth. "I'm beyond words, Mr. Bates. And even if I could chose a word, 'alright' would not be one of them."

"I guess that's good."

"It's very good, Mr. Bates." Anna snuggled closer to him. "I hope you're not nervous if I ask that you stay here. At least for a little bit."

"I'd be very honored to stay." John flicked his gaze toward the ceiling. "Think we gave them a run for their money."

"Given I'm sure she… or whomever is up there, faked at least two of those orgasms and I didn't," Anna kissed John's lips, her hand holding his face. "I'd say we won the race."

"I like the sound of that." John settled next to her. "I very much like the sound of that."


	6. Ex Animo

Anna opened her eyes, the beeping bringing her out of the fog. She tried to move to shut off the angry alarm but a deep sound, vibrating through her back, reminded her she was not alone in her bed. The smile over her face, as she looked over her shoulder at the man shutting off his alarm, reflected back at her as he gave his own greeting.

"Good morning."

"Early morning." Anna glanced toward the clock. "Obsessively early."

"Sorry," He mumbled, burying his head in her hair. "I always get up early."

"Even when you're on holiday?"

"Hard to break those kinds of habits." John ran his finger down her arm. "How early do you have to be awake?"

"Not for at least two hours." Anna went to pull the blanket over her head but John stopped her. "Excuse you."

"Stay awake with me."

"Nope." Anna fought again to bury her head.

"Stay awake." He tugged at the blanket but she tugged it back. "We could do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know." John pulled on the blanket but Anna kept her grip firm. "Anything really, since we've now got the time."

"You'd have to make it worth my while." Anna pulled the blanket back and almost covered herself but John's hand snuck under it before she could get under wraps and traced her breast. "Monster."

"I resent that implication." John grinned at her as Anna squirmed to try and escape his hand but the other slipped between her body and the mattress to follow the line of her hip down to draw indiscernible patterns around her clit. "And you wanted me to suggest something we could do so you'd stay awake. This is what I've come up with."

"This is coercion."

"That's exactly what it is." John traced the shell of her ear with his lips before nipping at her earlobe. "How else could I convince you to stay awake?"

"What if you just let me sleep?"

"And miss out on a chance to seduce you?"

"They teach you this at University?"

He hummed against her skin as he shifted down her jaw. "Not in any class I'd get credit for."

"Personal experience then?"

"A gentleman never brags."

Anna twisted in the sheets as his fingers tweaked her nipple and massaged toward her core. After a moment of frustration, she kicked them off to John's triumphant laugh. She only spared him a momentarily withering look before his hands forced her to keen. "You're horrible."

"I've succeeded in my goal so it sounds like you're just a bad loser."

"Are we playing a game?"

"If we were, I'd take your moment of frustration and raise you this." His finger stroked along her thighs and when she instinctually opened them his hand slipped into the space.

"That's… Not… Fair." Anna huffed, her body acting on instinct to soothe the ache he only coaxed like a petulant flame.

"Maybe not, but it's working. However," John paused his hands, hovering over her quivering skin, "If you tell me you'd rather my fingers not continue on their current path then please let me know and I promise I'll stop immediately."

"Please keep going." She breathed and then surrendered to his touch.

Her moans were sure to wake her neighbors as John continued to track his fingers closer and closer to her center, teasing her to the point of insanity. He persisted, however, in keeping his fingers away from where she wanted him most and danced over the delicate edge to distract her. Like a magician trying to distract and dissemble, John urged her desire higher and higher until Anna was sure she might just set the bed on fire with the heat of her blood. Her hands fisted in the rumpled sheets and she tugged at them as she tried to force his fingers deeper with her shifting hips. But he kept them back, taunting her with kisses along her jaw as the rumble of his voice vibrated over her skin.

"I won't go further unless you ask because you said you want to sleep more."

"John," Anna writhed against him, his fingers still keeping away from any sincere sensations. "You're not being fair."

"I'm being extremely fair because I'd hate to force you into a game you don't want to play." He let his teeth scrape over her jaw before whispering in her ear again, "And you haven't asked nicely yet."

"I'm not going to ask." Anna worked one of her hands back, digging into his hair and yanking his head to the side so their eyes met. "Shag me now."

"Yes ma'am."

His fingers struck deep, immediately sending Anna whimpering into her pillow. The hand in his hair flexed and adjusted to hold him closer as her leg slipped back over his hip to open her to his further ministrations. They shifted and John sent his fingers deeper through the unforgiving cling of her tightening muscles. With each undulation of her body he found ways to work farther into her until he decided to add pleasure with another finger.

Anna almost screeched off the bed but John's persistent hand at her breast kept her in line, subjecting her to more glorious torture under his trained hands. The continual pressing of his thumb as he ran it over her clit inspired the spontaneous bucking of Anna's hips until she was sure she no longer claimed total and solitary possession of her body. And as he settled at her clit to taunt and tease her, she could see herself as a taut string strung just for him to play like a master. Play he did until Anna broke for him.

Through the burst of pleasure exploding behind her eyes, and sending her body into uncontrollable spasms, Anna finally registered the deep sink of her nails into his scalp and sought to pry them loose. But his fingers ignored her orgasm to push her right toward a second, responding to the grind of her hips with an animalistic growl as John almost bent in half to attack the tops of her breasts with tongue and teeth.

Quivering and shivering through the fall of her first orgasm, trying desperately to maintain sanity on the road to the second, Anna strained and writhed against him. John's mouth slipped from her skin and his head escaped the unforgiving clutch of her fingers to nudge at her arm. It slapped like rubber against them but John crawled halfway around her body to situate himself where he could continue suckling at her breasts. Combine with his fingers and thumb still working her weeping folds, Anna heedlessly tossed herself into the waves of the second.

She truly had to wonder, in the dazzling haze of her orgasmic descent, if this was not the most glorious sensation. Nothing, and no one really, had ever led to this. The wondrous buzzing through body tuned her to the smallest of noises and she hazarded she could hear even the grass blades from the little courtyard outside her flat. And in the distance, the crash of waves rang in her ears as if she were right there. In that moment of blinding ecstasy where the world freezes, Anna could count individual rays of sunlight peeping through her window.

But as she floated back to earth, drawn there by the patient and adoring affections of John's lips over her shoulders, Anna lounged back into his arms. Her fingers trailed over his with as much effort as her lazily sated self could manage until she blinked up at him. All she could see then was John sucking one of his fingers into his mouth.

For a moment, Anna frowned. When he did it again the lines on her brow vanished as realization cut through her satisfied fog to send her body back to hyperaware reality. The reality that triggered the primal brain to bring her leg higher on his hip so his arousal slipped from its position in the crest of her ass to the space she left wide for him between her legs.

John coughed and dropped his hand, the last finger still shining. Anna caught his wrist and, before she could allow her evolved brain to think faster than her primal one, she dragged it into her mouth. The hitch in John's breathing matched the buck of his hips that sent his erection rubbing through her dampened folds so they both groaned. She as she licked the residue of herself off his finger and him as he set a slow pace sliding himself through her.

When Anna dropped his hand, fingers now gleaming in the gray morning light from their attentions instead of his artistry, John immediately used it to hold her hip steady while his trapped arm folded up to knead at her neglected breast so his other hand could hold her hip in place. Anna's breath caught and she readied herself for a repeat of last night's desirable sensations.

But he did not move. John continued his steady glide through her folds, driving her mad with each brush against her more sensitive nerves until she wanted nothing more than to take him in hand herself and solve the problem. And when she realized his persistence only matched the teasing kisses and gentle caresses of his other hand, she did just that.

The jerk startled him but they sounded in unison as Anna plunged herself back on him. She caught the right angle and John immediately thrust upward to send them both reeling at the depth of his move. A move that tightened and rubbed differently due to the change in their position.

Their skin rubbed together as his chest expanded over her back and their breathing syncopated. He breathed in when she went out and he let out air when she hauled it in. Each time they shifted and rubbed against one another to send new sensations flooding Anna's brain with signals and suggested responses that rewrote themselves as fast as they came. Nothing felt right, everything felt right, no motion was best, all motions were best… It raged against her until they finally settled.

The pause, that necessary break for their bodies, triggered a rotation of Anna's hips. John nipped her shoulder at that, his fingers squeezing her breast in response to her motion, and Anna did it again. His hand at her hip dug deeply enough to bruise and Anna took her turn to pause.

In that moment, as they settled and just reveled in the new experience, Anna closed her eyes to memorize it. And the second John's fingers loosened, leaving the red marks on her skin, Anna drove herself back onto him. He grunted and she did it again, peeking over her shoulder to relish the way her ass fit perfectly between his hips and how their bodies melded together.

Then they moved. John's strokes were short and fast, the position striking the places Anna needed him so she could clench her muscles and grab at him as if she could keep him trapped. He remained frustratingly out of reach as he persisted in tormenting her body with pleasure at three points but Anna did not hesitate to raise the stakes again.

John seemed distracted, his focus on four different parts of her body at once, so Anna took the initiative. With one hand threatening to take her to orgasm against as he sought her clit, the other trying to sculpt both breasts at once, his mouth leaving kisses over her shoulders and neck, and his hips continuing the noble drive insider her, he simply had no time to consider her next move. And, perhaps, he thought her too busy enjoying his attentions to think of anything.

But when Anna rolled more fully onto her back, forcing John to bend over her body as his stroke lengthened to bottom-out inside her, she could not help the glimmer of a smile that accompanied the moan to match John's guttural choke. He stayed in position, buried as far as he could go so every part of him pressed her to the mattress. After a minute Anna wondered if she made the wrong choice but John's increase in pace immediately destroyed her worries.

His pace increased. The gentle teasing of his motions was now halted by his almost-trapped hands. Hands he immediately set to massaging her back and working her clit with gusto until Anna could only dig her head into her pillow to cry out her verbally inexpressible emotions. And with his hands occupied on her pleasure, John set his snapping hips to increasing the slick sounds of their bodies slapping together as he drove away.

A slight nudge of his knee against her thigh and Anna widened her legs. He sank even deeper, pressing against her so closely Anna wondered if he was not holding them together in the hopes they would simply absorb one another and reach pleasure that way. But regardless of his intentions, the thrusting drives ran her ragged and she sobbed her third finish with a body devoid of energy but seeped in pleasure.

Pleasure John reached soon after, abandoning all pretense of control or finesse to frenetically drive into her. So much so that Anna rose from the crest of one wave to the next and stole a final climax as they fell together. John's body stuttered his last, arms slipping on the sheets and failing to hold him up over her.

Though he did not collapse on her, the weight of him rested mostly on her until either of them could summon the energy to move. A herculean effort in and of itself but they managed it. With their chests matched in the swift rise and fall or starving lungs clawing for air, Anna could only giggle off the excess energy. John joined her with wheezing gasps until she finally risked speech.

"Worth staying awake for." John could only give a deep laugh.

"Then my work here is done." He heaved another deep breath that Anna heard and saw with the rise of his chest before it caved out on the exhale. "And I'll take whatever punishments you want to give in return for my coercion."

"I don't know." Anna turned enough to look at him sideways, the blankets and sheets tangled about her legs until she kicked them off. "I don't think you could handle what I'd do to you."

"Couldn't I?" John turned as well, almost bouncing them on the bed. They shared a laugh before he tucked loose hair behind her ear. "I'd be interested in another opportunity try and match skills with you."

"You gave me four orgasms in one go." Anna shook her head, "I couldn't match that if I tried."

"Then I can handle you."

"Oh no," Anna shook her head, allowing her grin to expose her canines so John's eyes widened. "I didn't say I had to match that but I can prove quite torturous."

"Can you?"

Anna nodded, "I've got a lot of practice with suction." John coughed and Anna laughed at his response. "I can hold you on edge for hours."

"And when are you," John dragged her closer, kissing over her face and neck. "Going to have time for that?"

"I'll find time." Anna sighed, letting herself sink closer to him as her fingers idly stroked over his skin. "What will you do with all of your time?"

"What time?" John's head was still below her chin, gentle kisses relaxing her in his arms.

"Your holiday. You've got a month or so, right?" Anna pushed back so John had to look at her. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Seduce you as much as possible." John dodged the swat she aimed for him with a pillow as his shield. "In all seriousness I think I'll do a lot of reading."

"You're going to tell me you're in Nice and you'll spend your time reading?"

"I've got a good view." John shrugged, settling back on her bed. "And I like reading. It's relaxing and that's what I take holidays to do. Relax and just enjoy soaking in the atmosphere of a place."

"Don't you ever sightsee?"

"Sure." John managed another shrug, frowning at Anna's eye roll. "I'm a man of simple pleasures and simple tastes. I can spend a month somewhere wandering at will. I've got nothing else going so there's no effort to do more than that."

"Well," Anna bent over him, her hair curtaining their faces. "Then all I ask is that you find time to do something significant to this location. You can read anywhere but there are things here that you can't find anywhere else."

"Like you?"

Anna gaped at the man beneath her but John just stared back with soft eyes. As she went to respond, he laid a finger over her lips. In the moment of silence he forced on them Anna wondered if the thudding noise she could hear was her heartbeat… before she realized it was her upstairs neighbor.

They both groaned, Anna moving off John to grab a dressing gown and get herself toward the shower. John's voice brought her back to the present and she turned to face him, pulling her hair over her shoulder. He pointed to the ceiling.

"I guess they couldn't stand the competition."

"I'm not sure there's much competition when we're judged on style, technical skill, and energy."

John guffawed. "And how'd we score in your Olympic-style point distribution?"

"Nine out of ten?" Anna shrugged and then shrieked as John crowded her into the tiny bathroom.

* * *

Anna sighed, pushing back from the table to massage her hands. Mrs. Hughes looked up from her work, glasses perched on the end of her nose. "Something the matter Anna?"

"Just cramping my wrists." Anna rolled her neck to stretch the tight muscles. "I thought writing through these edits would be easier."

"Suffer now and celebrate later." Mrs. Hughes marked another paper. "I hope you're still good for the first dive."

"I'm still certified, if that's what you mean." Anna frowned, "I thought dives weren't starting until next week."

"For the students. I've got to get a look at that boat but they've got me doing an introductory lecture they've scheduled last minute and-"

"I'll see to it." Anna pulled for her phone, typing furiously into her calendar. "I know what you're looking for and I can give you the specs."

"They sent their blueprints the other day and the dimensions are good but I want eyes on it before I put students on deck." Mrs. Hughes marked another paper and then sighed. "Although if their written answers don't improve then none of them are getting on a boat this term."

Anna laughed, turning back to her computer when the one next to it dinged. "I've got the first results."

"Positive?"

"We'll definitely be getting something to research." Anna sent the results to Mrs. Hughes's computer and listened for the ding. "I think you'll like what it means for us."

The satisfied sound matched Anna's mood. "I think you'll be diving more than you'll be in the lab this term."

They worked in silence until Anna found herself squinting at her computer. She rubbed over her eyes and pulled her arms behind her back to stretch. The pop and crack had her almost jumping out of her chair at Mrs. Hughes's startled yelp. Freezing for a second, they both laughed and Anna turned to saving her research and shutting down the computers as Mrs. Hughes filed her papers away.

"Tell me," Anna turned, her bag almost over her shoulder as her other hand worked to stuff her computer into its depths. "How do you like Nice so far?"

"Nice is nice." Anna grinned, noting the response from Mrs. Hughes that scrunched the woman's face into an expression that read 'not amused'. "It's lovely and I'm already having a lovely time."

"I did notice you had a bit of a glow about you when you came in this morning." Mrs. Hughes pulled the door closed, locking it behind her as they kept pace toward the building's exit. "I think the south of France agrees with you."

"It's one of the things that are definitely agreeing with me." Anna let her smile widen as she noticed Mr. Carson sitting on a bench, eyes closed and enjoying the night air. "I'll see you tomorrow Mrs. Hughes."

"If you could see the boat before you come in, that'll be helpful."

"I've got it. Just send me the details." Anna waved her off, shivering at the adorability of Mrs. Hughes exchanging kisses on the cheek with Mr. Carson as he took her hands in his.

The deep rumble of his loving chides took Anna down the street. Her hands dug into her pockets and she rustled out her earphones to wrap over her ears. Before she could manage to get them untangled a honk had her jumping over the pavement toward the building. With a hand on her heart Anna whirled around, only to laugh out loud.

John waved at her from the back of a motorcycle and Anna kept one hand on her chest while the other covered her mouth to stop her laughter. John frowned, reaching behind him to hand over a helmet. "Do you want a ride?"

"What is this?"

"In English I think it's called a 'motorcycle' but I don't know the French for it."

"And I think you might be lying." Anna took the helmet, "How'd you rent it without knowing what it is?"

"I pointed and then we held up fingers until we found the price." John patted the seat behind him. "Car for a ride?"

"My mother calls these 'donor cycles'."

"So does my mother." John winked at her, "Come on. If we walk we'll never get where we're going."

"We're going somewhere?" Anna made a show of hemming and hawing as she delayed putting on the helmet. "I don't know. It feels a bit dodgy."

"It's a public place and then I'll drop you right back at home when the evening's over."

"Will you be staying over?"

John let his teeth flash at her. "Only if you ask nicely."

"Better make it worth the grovel I'll do later." Anna buckled on the helmet, stuffing her bag between them as she wrapped her arms around his middle. "And why not a scooter?"

"They're emasculating."

"Is your masculinity so fragile?"

"No. But I am that tall and I don't like the idea of my chin bumping my knees as I steer through the streets." John looked over his shoulder. "Ready?"

"I think so." Anna tightened her hold. "Tell me when I cut off your air."

"Every time you look at me."

Anna did not get a chance to respond to his saccharine statement before he thundered them down the road.

They wove toward the beach but then John guided the bike toward the hills. Anna held to him with each turn and relaxed a bit as he drove with a confidence born of experience. A confidence she addressed when they stopped at a lit building thumping with a bass beat.

"I have to apologize."

"For?" John took her helmet, linking it to his and hanging them from the handlebars before securing them with a ziptie.

"I thought you were probably some boring auditor with no hobbies." Anna waved at the bike. "You ride that like you were born on it."

"I also told you I was in the SAS and SBS so I guess I'm a little stunned you still thought me as unattractive as a short sleeved button-down."

"You're the one who said you'd spend your holiday reading." Anna poked at him, keeping a hand on her bag as John led them inside. "How was I to know you hadn't succumbed entirely to your boring lifestyle?"

"I'll have you know that I'm entertaining a career move."

"Are you?" Anna exaggerated her motions, "And which cubicle city will you choose next?"

"I resent that." John grabbed at her, entrapping her to test if she was ticklish. Anna tried to fight him off, giggling and laughing with him. "It'll be a bit more hands on than all that."

"They giving you a calculator watch and a pencil to do hand sums with your slide rule? That kind of 'hands-on'?"

John ignored her, leading them into the building and chatting with the woman behind the counter before facing Anna to point to her bag. "They'll hold it for you."

Anna grasped at it before getting it off her shoulder and taking everything but her phone from her pockets to stuff into the bag. "Just be careful with it. There's a lot of research on there and my entire thesis so…"

"It'll be better than gold." John checked with the woman, who took the bag with a nod and the twenty euro John handed over with a smile. "See?"

"I'm still not entirely comfortable with it." Anna sighed, interlacing her fingers with John's. "How'd you know I was even done with classes when you showed up?"

"I got a peek at your texts this morning." John dodged Anna's swipe. "We've got to address your violent reactions."

"We've only got to address why you're reading my texts."

"It showed up when I finished in the shower and you were busy mangling your breakfast."

"Whatever." Anna leveled a finger at him. "I don't believe you but whatever."

"You think me, a lowly auditor, is somehow tracking your every move?"

"Maybe. Maybe you're not an auditor?" Anna suggested as the corridor around them darkened and he music got louder. "What if you're actually a government agent or something and you only pretend to be hapless?"

"When did I ever pretend to be hapless?" John gave something to the brawny man standing at the door and pushed through to show Anna. "Welcome to this evening's activity."

"Dancing?"

"You're graceful in water so I thought-"

"I'm graceful because I'm virtually weightless." Anna shook her head, trying to back out the doors but John tugged lightly on her arm. "This is a bad idea."

"No one'll even know we're here."

"You say that like we're not going to get noticed." Anna pulled at her shirt, her slacks catching on her heels as she almost tripped herself when John led her to the dance floor.

"We won't." John held up his hands and Anna hurried to follow his motions as the lights brightened to blind them.

"We're going to get noticed."

"Just," John tipped his head down, whispering to her over the silence between songs. "Follow my lead."

Anna's hand shook in his, her other one pinching at his deltoid as she tried to manage a strangling grip with just her pointer finger and thumb. Someone let out a stream of French, the accent and volume making it impossible to understand, and then Anna jumped as someone pinned something to John's back. She tried to see what it was but John held her still.

"Just relax Anna. It's alright."

"What is going on?"

"We're in the amateur competition." Anna glared at him and John shrugged. "You said I was going to have a boring holiday."

"I regret having met you."

"You didn't this morning."

"Oh no," Anna shook her head as a beat thudded through the speakers. "I regretted it then to. I would've gotten an extra two hours of sleep. Instead I was sore all day."

"This'll make you sore in a different way." John straightened his back, leaning over their hands to mumble into her ear. "Before I offer to make you sore in another way all over again."

Whatever noise Anna might have made in response to his comment was lost in the music and the sudden drop of the lights. John turned them and moved with a fluidity Anna stumbled to match. But whatever grace naturally endowed to him bled through their joined hands to allow Anna to match his motions. Each one of his directions, indicated through subtle tugs on her hand or shifts in his arm, took them with the others about the dance floor in the never-ending circle.

As the music changed so did the steps. Anna could not keep her movements as sharp as those about her, dressed for the occasion as she stumbled in her too-short heels with rubber soles instead of the fabric-bottomed ones of the others. A few had sneakers or ballet flats, their partners and dress looking much more like Anna than those who seemed to sneer at them over their partners' shoulders. Those glares bored into Anna and she forced herself to sink deeper into John's guidance to forget the pseudo-competition around them.

A competition that got harder with each song until they were the last of four couples. The French voice called out another set of instructions and the music stopped while the lights flared up again. Anna raised a hand to block her vision but colors dotted behind her eyes all the same. Closing her eyes, enjoying the dusky images there to relax her abused irises, Anna took a deep breath. John's hand engulfed hers and Anna cracked an eyelid to look at him.

"We've only got to beat one more person and we get the beach towels."

"Excuse me?" Anna put a hand on his chest. "What are we winning?"

"Third place gets beach towels, matching ones, while second place gets coupons of a lovely little diner just off the beach, and first place is a boat tour of the bay." John stopped, his jaw flexing as he noted the expression on Anna's face. "I'm sorry I-"

"We're getting those beach towels." Anna put her hands up. "Come on, assume the position."

"Are you going to pat me down and then cuff my hands behind my back."

Anna winked at him, "Don't tempt me. I'll need a way to keep you immobile when I pay you back for this morning."

"Screw beach towels." John grabbed Anna's hand, tugging her off the dance floor and back into the tiny hallway for the bathrooms.

"No, John!" Anna tugged back. "I want the towels."

"I'll buy you some." John tried to tug her forward but Anna held her ground.

"You can take me later. Right now we're winning the competition you entered us in because I want those prizes."

They hurried back to the floor, getting into position as the music and the lights dropped for a second time. As per their desires, when the prizes were doled out, Anna triumphantly held up her beach towel. The more competitive couples only sneered at her but Anna could not contain her giddy excitement.

"This isn't the best thing I ever won but it's close."

"It's a towel."

"But I won it." Anna let out a burst of laughter. "Dancing, no less. I've always had just slightly better than two left feet but not much better. It's why I thought swimming was so great because then I was finally graceful but this…"

She practically cackled again, clutching the towel to her, and then noticed John's face. "What?"

"Are you always so excited about everything?"

"How'd you mean?"

"When I first met you I got a diagnostic on the details of water and how it connects us. Then you go free diving on a beach, for fun, before settling in for one of the most haphazard meals I've ever prepared, just to be excited that dessert was cart ice cream. Not to mention you helped with dishes on our date and…"

"And what?" Anna's hands dropped, half-heartedly taking her bag from the woman behind the counter.

"And…" John shrugged, a grin stretching his face. "And how did I just have you bump into me on a road in one of the most beautiful cities in the world now boasting one of the most beautiful women in the world?"

"I'm not-"

"That's just it." John took Anna's hands, forcing her to look at him. "You are. You are because you're excited and happy and besotted and all those other emotions that make life worth living. You embody life and that makes you beautiful."

Anna threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Somehow they got back onto his motorcycle, although Anna could never remember exactly how, because all she registered was shoving her key so hard into the lock on her door she was convinced she would break both key and door. Nonetheless, she got them inside and locked there before letting her bag and towel drop onto the sofa. They landed with a sound she did not hear over the groan John let vibrate back into her mouth when she seized his lips with hers.

"I thought you were going to torture me for hours."

"Haven't got the time." Anna hurried, shoving her slacks down to join the shoes she already kicked away into a pile. "If I don't do this now I'll lose all of my courage."

"I doubt that." John tried to laugh against her lips but her hand grabbed the front of his trousers and cupped him. "Never mind. Keep going please."

They stumbled their way to a wall, Anna's shirt open and her bra hanging from her shoulders due to the front clasp while John's trousers caught about his ankles. But it was all they needed. Just enough so a few test strokes on the other had them joined in the same breath.

With one tick of the clock they allowed themselves to freeze so they could bask in the sensation. With the next tick it was off to the races. Anna's back and hips banged against the wall so hard she was sure the boat captain would notice one big bruise when she went on the practice dive. But she could hardly find it in herself to care about the possible repercussions on her body when John wrapped around her, thrust into her, and sank so deeply inside her it was as if he crawled into her very soul to make his home there.

As one they moved. As one they tried to breathe from the other. As one they shifted and groaned and cried out and met. And as one they crashed over the edge together.

Sagging against one another, her head supported on her shoulder as he tried to lean against her on the wall, Anna stroked over his shirt. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For taking me dancing." Anna worked herself up, untangling her legs for a wobbly moment until John helped her to the floor. "For taking me to dinner. For… For meeting me after I bumped into you."

"How could I not?" John found a loose strand of hair, escaped after their active evening. "I would've regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn't."

"Me too." Anna wrapped her arms around him, holding him close in all their haphazard glory. "Me too."


	7. Non Sum Qualis Eram

John tipped his head back, enjoying the sun until something blocked the light. He cracked his eye open and groaned as Mary took the seat opposite him. "My holiday's not over yet."

"But your time to make a decision is up." She tapped her watch. "Yes or no."

"Right now?"

"You've had almost a month."

"Yes, almost a month." John held up a finger, flipping his legs down on the sun chair to sit facing Mary. "I've still got two weeks and I planned to enjoy them hassle free. No distractions or interruptions."

"Then you don't call all the action you've been getting lately a distraction?" Mary let her mouth curve up into a bit of a smirk that only made John huff.

"Don't be jealous that I'm dating a lovely girl and you're not."

"I don't date women, as a rule." Mary tapped the table between them. "Are you in or out, Mr. Bates?"

John waved her off, "Talk to Henry. He's the decision maker of our duo."

"It's funny you say that since Mr. Talbot wanted me to confirm with you." Mary reached into her bag and withdrew a thin tablet, handing it over to John. "Sign this and, two weeks from now, you report to Sector Seven."

"Not sure if I'm ready for the elite division." John took the tablet, reading the contents carefully. "It's a big step up."

"After you put away your ex-wife and Mr. Carlisle we felt it was time you joined a squad ready to match your talents."

"Did you now?" John read the contract one last time and then traced his finger over the line at the bottom. "Well, you own my soul now so I guess we'll see just how elite I am."

"Thank you." Mary took the tablet back, tucking it into her bag and standing. "Just, do me a favor and don't overexert yourself over the next two weeks. I'd hate to bench you before you even started because you got a little over ambitious with your girlfriend."

"Not sure she's technically my girlfriend." John shrugged, "I've not asked her officially and I don't think I've got a jacket to give her."

"I'm sure when you go on as many dates as the two of you do, it's something that you are." Mary shook her head at him, "What kind of generation was yours that you can't tell you're obviously dating?"

"One where we said everything out loud. I'd rather not assume anything." John narrowed his eyes, "Although I am a bit disturbed that the cars I've noticed following me were actually yours and not just the same car a dozen tourists rented."

"We wanted to keep an eye on you."

"Why?"

Mary sat back down, her bag on her lap. "I'm sure you're aware that we've not been idle with our newest prisoners."

"I would've thought waterboarding beneath you."

"Ha, ha." Mary scowled, "Your ex-wife wasn't very talkative at first but then our interrogator slipped your name into the mix and she couldn't stop herself."

"She give you a load of shit about our marriage?"

"She gave me enough to write your autobiography… in a way that would have me sued for libel." Mary shuddered, "She hates you in a way I don't think I've ever seen from anyone before."

"We didn't have a great relationship once I realized where her true loyalties lie… While she laid other people."

"I would've thought you went to University for literature and not maths with something like that." Mary flexed her jaw, "She did make some accusations as to your involvement in her more criminal activities."

"Hence the tail?"

Mary nodded, "Had to be sure. You never know these days and my boss wasn't going to take the chance you might've been earning a bit on the side."

John snorted, "I'm sure you've investigated enough to see my flat in London, to know that I don't have one and still live in my mother's spare room, and this is the nicest holiday I've had in two decades so you make your own decisions about the likelihood that I've been slicing off a piece of that pie."

"I think your file says you don't even like pie."

"I don't."

"Then we've solved that problem right there." Mary gave a little laugh. "I was actually rather impressed by how much she gave us, in the end."

"What was the deal?"

"Minimum security instead of execution for treason." Mary tapped the table between them. "Just to be clear, you're not a traitor to your country and you've not been working with her."

"I guess me clotheslining her on that dock wasn't much of an indicator."

"Some people go a long way to selling a story." Mary huffed, "But Carlisle never corroborated anything about you except to complain how you were always on his ass about something or other. Mostly I think he was just upset by your dogged persistence in trying to end his drug smuggling ring."

"Did you ever find out who the other two men were?"

"They have… I hesitate to say 'loose' connections to some larger organized crime units but they've got their fingers in a few pies."

"Pies you want me to investigate?"

"I'm actually not going to be assigning you any projects so I've no idea what you'll be doing when you work for us." Mary narrowed her eyes at John. "Is that what you want? To globe trot as you track all these people down?"

"No." John shook his head and leaned slightly around Mary. "I've got other plans that might require me to take a more… stationary position."

"That won't fly with Sector Seven."

"But I could make it work." John waved a hand, standing from the table. "I'm done with auditing people from hither to yon and living at my mother's. I need to create some stability for myself. To actually decide to be an adult."

"That sounds very domestic." Mary turned over her shoulder and smiled. "And I understand why."

"Just don't-"

"You'll like the cover I've chosen for this." Mary stood, "Anna!"

John blinked as the two women embraced. "You two…"

"Mary's one of my oldest friends." Anna hugged her tighter a moment before pulling back to take in the sight of her. "Matthew's been treating you right then?"

"Better than. He's actually suggested we go visit my grandmother in America on our next holiday." Mary turned back to John, her arm around Anna's shoulders. "Bates, you should've told me you were dating Anna."

"I didn't…" John coughed, "I wasn't sure I could call her my girlfriend yet and I didn't want to assume anything."

"You two work together then?"

"I'm consulting on the audit he finished and doing the wrap up work." Mary grabbed her bag, kissing Anna's cheek. "I'm actually going to run for another meeting but it was so lovely to see you."

"If you're here for much longer we should get lunch." Anna half-turned, pointing down the street. "I've got this café just over there that-"

"I'm actually on the first plane out tomorrow morning." Mary cringed, "But in any other circumstance I'll arrange it when I'm back in York. When do you finish at Leeds anyway?"

"Finally scheduled my presentation and I'm defending in October." Anna flashed a smile at John. "Dr. Hughes thinks I could get offered a position there starting in January so I'm crossing my fingers."

"I'll cross all of mine too." Mary extended her hand to John. "Again, so sorry I interrupted your holiday. I know it was a last-minute thing and-"

"Not to worry. We've got it all settled and everyone can sleep a bit easier now." John shook her hand. "I'm just glad they've got you on the case. No one'll wrap it all up better."

"It's why they pay me the big bucks, as they say." Mary waved at them both. "Enjoy the rest of your afternoon."

John rubbed his hands over his trousers and then faced Anna. "I'm sorry about all that, with the-"

"Sorry about it?"

"She suggested that you're my girlfriend and I feel that it's a bit…"

"Early?"

"Presumptuous." John chewed the inside of his cheek. "I'd like to think that but we've only been going on dates for two weeks and it seems a bit fast but-"

"I think," Anna took John's hands in hers. "It's not fast at all."

"Really?"

"I'll assume, since I've not asked, that you're over thirty and I'm dangerously close to it." Anna shrugged, "People in our position of life, despite the fact we're not 'old' yet, need to get a move on if they're planning on doing anything."

"So you're alright with the idea of being my girlfriend even though we've basically just met and we're on holiday and-"

"You're on holiday, I'm working."

"Fair enough." John grinned, offering her his arm and setting to stroll away from the café. "How was work, by the way?"

"It's going well I think." Anna shrugged, "What do you really know about the minds of students at Uni?"

"I don't think I even had a mind at Uni, not really." John whistled, "I did meet my wife there so I guess that's evidence enough."

"Try not to be so unkind to yourself."

"Why not?"

"We all make mistakes."

"Pretty sure your mistakes didn't cost you ten years and more money than they were worth to divorce."

"No," Anna nodded, tugging John toward the beach. "But I've never been married so I'm not sure that counts."

"Okay then," John took her hand, swinging it between them. "What is your most embarrassing mistake, don't be shy now."

"How can I be? You've seen me naked."

John cringed as a mother with two children near them glared and tried to cover the ears of one child. "Perhaps not something to mention in public."

"Please," Anna shot the woman a look to match the scowl. "If I had a ring on my finger and so did you everyone would know, if not think about directly, the fact that we've had sex."

"But there's no ring on your finger."

"And we don't live in a per-liberated world." Anna found a spot on the sand and tugged John down to sit next to her. "My most embarrassing moment, to date, was… Probably the time I helped Mary sneak out of a guy's dorm before the monitor caught us."

"What?"

Anna nodded, "It was at Uni, obviously, and Mary and I were roommates. We weren't… I wouldn't say we were close, in our first term, but we got a bit closer in the second. The kind of close where they'll help you get to Tesco to pick up something but you wouldn't have them meet your parents kind of thing."

"Important distinction."

"Yeah." Anna bit her lip, "Well one night I was studying late because I had a biology exam the next day and I get this call. It's Mary and she's whispering like she's hiding in a closet, and begs me to go over to this boys' hall."

"Because she was 'studying'?"

"I think that was the original intention. See," Anna shifted on the sand to face John. "She was taking this ancient cultures class and there was a boy in it, very attractive, who happened to be from Turkey and she was struggling with Post-Roman architecture and he volunteered to help her."

"I'm sure that's exactly what he wanted to do."

"I don't know how much studying actually got done but he apparently got a bit handsy and she smashed his hand with the textbook to get him to behave."

John clicked his teeth, "Sends a message."

"Unfortunately for her, he thought that meant she was…" Anna shuddered, "A 'firecracker' or something."

"Disgusting."

"Right?" Anna shook herself and continued. "So Mary then goes to get away and he comes after her. Unbeknownst to him, both of us met in a martial arts class and she was good."

John snorted, "I'll bet she was."

"Whatever he tried she countered with this open-palm strike that landed right above his heart." Anna took a second, "She actually killed him for a second."

"What?"

Anna nodded, "He had a heart condition she didn't know about and the hit stopped his heart for a second."

"She killed a man?"

"Only for a second." Anna waved it off. "He went to his knees and then hit the floor and his heart restarted itself, which was lucky."

"I'll say."

"But then Mary's in this super awkward position so she grabs her things and gets the hell out of there."

"And did what?"

"Well it was late, she's locked in this boys' hall, and there's a monitor checking the rooms." Anna shook her head, "She literally called me from a custodial closet to have me help get her out of there before she got caught."

"What would've happened?"

"Nothing serious but Mary had a perfect record and she didn't want her father to know anything about it."

"Why?"

"Robert Crawley would've killed that man for attempting to touch his daughter and he wouldn't have come back after that." Anna leaned back on her arms. "So there I was, booking it across campus, and helping guide her to a window I could jimmy open so she could sneak out while trying not to be caught by campus security on the prowl for predators."

"I'd imagine you make a rather terrifying predator."

Anna shoved at John's arm, "I'm pretty daring when I want to be."

"I'll bet." He smiled at her, "I would've thought there'd be a bit more to the story but I'll take that as embarrassing."

"More for her than me but I've led a pretty quiet life myself." Anna leaned back farther so her legs spread out in front of her. "What about you?"

"Besides by divorce?"

"Besides that."

"There was…" John adjusted onto his left side, lying longways next to Anna. "There was this time, at a conference, we were all standing in line to meet someone important and I made an ass of myself."

"Who was it?"

John took his turn to shrug, "I don't remember. Some stuffed shirt with a title or something and not nearly as many brains as names."

"Governmental review then?"

"Something like that." John flexed his jaw, "Anyway, I had this coworker at the time who didn't like me. She was friends with this other bloke who figured I stole his promotion and she was sore about it on his behalf."

"Loyalist then?"

"Very." John sighed, "I was coming off a surgery and so I had this cane and I leaned on it pretty heavily as we're all waiting in line to shake the wanker's hand."

"The stuffed shirt?"

"Right." John rubbed his hand along his leg. "So there we are, in line on parade, and I go to adjust my cane slightly. She's standing right next to me and the next thing I know I'm on my face eating dirt."

"Horrible."

"Not as horrible as the fact a hundred eyes are now looking at you and your boss is mortified that anything about this visit didn't go precisely according to plan." John sucked the inside of his cheek. "I could never confirm she actually did it but the withering look she gave me when I went to stand… I could've killed all the weeds in my mother's garden with that kind of expression."

"Maybe if you ask nicely she'll give you a bottle of it."

John leveled a finger at her, "I didn't expect you to take the mickey."

"Sorry," Anna tried to make her face serious, "I just thought you'd hate it if I tried to give you pity."

"True." John conceded and then looked over the beach. "Sometimes I wish we could find a private beach."

"Why, don't like fighting for a spot on the sand?"

"Not really but that's not why I had the thought." John faced her. "I'd really like to kiss you right now and I think having all these people around might make it a bit… public."

"Not one for public displays of affection?"

"Not really." John reached out a finger to trace a bit of hair on her face. "I don't like the idea of sharing how I feel with you with the world."

"Don't want anyone to know?"

"Don't want anyone to share." John lay on his back, "Why do we never bring towels when we come here?"

"I don't think we plan it very well." Anna lay next to him, holding his fingers. "I've got something to ask you that I don't know how to make not sound…"

"Awkward?"

"Imposing." Anna raised herself onto her side over him. "Why do we never do it at yours?"

"What?"

"Whenever we have sex, we're always at my flat." Anna shifted to settled her hands on his chest and her chin on them. "Why never at yours?"

"You want to test out my bed?"

"I'd like an evening where I don't feel we're competing with the neighbors."

John snorted and nodded, "I understand that. I've started to drown them out though since we can all tell they're not nearly as good as we are."

Anna poked his arm. "That's not the point."

"Your point is that you feel I'm leaving you out of a great opportunity to have sex without anyone to hear us."

"Yes."

"One problem with that." John raised a finger of his other hand. "My landlady lives below us and we'd become the annoying upstairs neighbors."

"I could be quiet."

John laughed out loud. "We've never been quiet."

"Never had a reason to be before."

"That begin said," John managed to get his laughter under control. "I think it'd be rude of me to ask that."

"Why?"

"You've got your work. I'm on holiday so your convenience is all that matters to me." John tipped up, his lips barely brushing hers. "I didn't want to put you in a position where you'd be in a rush to get going in the morning."

"We've got the weekend since tomorrow is Friday." Anna shrugged, "It could be like a getaway without going anywhere."

"Like renting out a room in a city just to be somewhere else for a bit?"

"Exactly like that." Anna bit at her lip, "Not that we won't get other opportunities but-"

"I'd like to invite you, Ms. Smith," John sat up, taking Anna's hands in his. "To spend the weekend at your own private villa with me."

"You are too sweet."

"It's what I can do for you." John took a deep breath, "Until then though, I should probably drop you safely at your door and kiss you goodnight before take your whole weekend."

"Will I be able to move at the end of the weekend?"

"That's up to you. I'm just the facilitator." John stood and helped Anna to her feet. "Give me a list of what you want and I'll see that it gets taken care of."

"You're going to spoil me."

"I can't wait to spoil you." John interlaced their fingers and they walked back to her flat. "I am curious, what happens to us in two weeks."

"How'd you mean?"

"You were talking to Mary earlier about her being in York and you've still got to finish at Leeds so…" John shrugged, "I wouldn't want to think this is anything beyond what it is but we're…"

"We're moving in a direction, aren't we?" Anna dragged her thumb along the skin of his hand as they stood in the little patio area of her flat. "We've made so decisions with our lives that would make it rather impossible for us to just drop everything for one another."

"It's what the kids call, 'adulting' I think."

Anna snickered, "That's exactly what it's called. Why do you pretend you don't know exactly what you're talking about?"

"I'd hate to assume." John drew them closer together. "Where do you want this to go?"

"Right now? Inside where I can kiss you senseless."

"Much as I'll enjoy that," John nipped at her lips for a moment in demonstration, "I mean beyond this holiday…"

"We've still got another two weeks of it for you."

"But you've got two more months after that." John mimicked her earlier action and dragged his thumb along her hand. "I don't want this to be like all of those movies where people meet, fall in love, and then decide that they should move on without one another just to spend the last act of the movie tossing away their lives for the dream version they built of the other person."

"I hate those."

"Exactly."

"But," Anna stepped toward him until they were practically touching. "I think you're suggesting that you are in a bit more than 'like' with me."

"Maybe." John bit at his lip. "I can't exactly what it is because to assume more than like is presumptuous and to think less is insulting, to both of us."

"Like that awkward stage between a handshake and a hug?"

"Exactly." John shrugged, "I don't want to go into the next two weeks like they're our last on earth but I also don't want any false promises or hopes hanging over our heads."

"What do you propose?"

"That we accept we'll spend a lot of time together over the next two weeks, that I'll go back to England and miss you terribly, and then that you'll come back to England and we'll see what we can do about the craziness that will be adulting while trying out a relationship."

"You are my boyfriend, after all." Anna grinned and tugged him toward the door. "So come on, show me what the next two weeks'll be like."

"I'm already giving you an all-expenses-paid three-night, two-day in-town holiday." John frowned as Anna hurried to unlock the door. "In any other circumstance I'd call this ingratitude."

"If it's gratitude you want." Anna closed the door, flipping the lock and pushing John back to land heavily on the sofa. "Then allow me to demonstrate my gratitude, Mr. Bates."

"I wasn't-" John went to speak but Anna put her finger over his lips as she leaned over him.

"Now's not the time for talking." She took her finger back and smoothed her hand to the back of his next to hold there as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Now's the time for enjoying."

John's mouth could not close but it could not fully open either. He sat in stunned silence as Anna opened his shirt and laid kisses over his chest. When he went to touch her, Anna pushed his hands away and shook her head.

"Not this time."

He could only nod dumbly as Anna pushed off his thighs, standing in front of him as she drew her shirt over her head. It landed on the chair and John could only watch in rapture as Anna stripped for him. With the fading light of sunset setting the flat aglow with oranges and reds, they dyed her skin in deep shades that sent shivers over John. It was like watching fire before him and when he left only her bra and knickers on to kneel in front of him, John obediently spread his legs.

Her hands caressed and shaped him, tracing lines only she understood over his skin. Every touch was no more than an exploratory motion but each one had John shivering and sighing into the comforting relaxation of her hands. The kind of calm his ever-on-guard nerves could not process and so gave up trying just to enjoy her careful motions.

The pile of fabric on the chair increased when his shirt landed to wrinkle on the top there. And he barely noticed the clink of his belt or the pull of his zipper until Anna tugged near his knees to free his legs from their confines. It took a herculean effort to lift his hips and struggle against the material encasing him but Anna freed John until he sat naked on her sofa.

"Not sure what you'll tell the people who get this place next."

"I won't tell them anything." She wrapped a hand around him. "I'll just clean up and hope no one ever asks any questions."

John hissed at the squeeze of her fingers and clawed his into the sofa cushions. "That's daring of you."

"I don't plan on leaving a mess." Anna let her fingers ease off him, dragging over his skin toward his hips and stroking there. "Do you?"

John had no response for her as Anna bent and swallowed him. His knuckles went white in the dying light of the room and he clenched his jaw so hard he was sure he cracked his jaw. All because the woman between his legs dragged her teeth over him and then flirted her tongue into the slit at his tip.

He could have cried then. Would have continued crying when her hands massaged the skin of his thighs before taking it as their solemn duty to not only fondle his sack within an inch of his sanity but also aid in the tight clutch of her mouth at his base. Every pull of her mouth matched the hold and release of her hand until John could no more stop his bucking and jerking hips than he could the setting sun… much as he endeavored to try.

Right as he was about to lose every bit of his sanity, Anna pulled back. She added one final lick, tracing the pulsing vein on the underside of his highly sensitive and excruciatingly hard shaft, and sat back. John struggled to breath, the constriction in his chest from the loss of blood to all nonvital functions making him almost miss the next part. But when he comprehended her motions in removing her knickers and bra, it was a miracle he did not ruin her entire living room.

But Anna exercised efficiency and sank down on him in a single go. John gritted his teeth to keep himself from coming just at the sensations of her clinging walls around him or the tight wetness almost matched by her mouth. And when he thought he could handle it, Anna leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

"I told you, I'm very good with suction."

John groaned into her shoulder and held her waist tight as he ground against her. He finally touched her, all self-control long since evaporated, and could no longer restrain himself. It evolved into a race for the finish as he practically bucked at her to try and thrust as deeper as possible inside her. Anna proved herself a deft rider and managed to control her motions in return, despite his frenzy, and came with him in a rush.

His head rested on her shoulder, the heat from his expelled breaths warming the skin between them. "You are beyond wonderful."

"Because I give good head?" Anna teased and then gasped as John ground against her again.

"You're generous," He slipped out of her, laying her back on the sofa to spread her hair over the arm of it and her legs on either side of his. "And you're exceedingly careful."

"I didn't feel like biting you today." Anna tried to tease but gasped out as John ran a finger over her. "And you're worth spoiling."

"So are you." John lowered his mouth to kiss hers. "If I may?"

"By all means." Anna's arms wrapped over his neck and pulled him down to her lips as they embraced.

John shifted between her legs, his hands moving over her body to touch reverently at her breasts, and ran himself along her soaking folds. Anna whimpered against his mouth and John broke the kiss to trace his lips down her skin. The familiar patterns and ripples of her muscles and bone beneath skin enthralled him until he reached her breasts. There he feasted.

Anna's fingers delved into his hair, holding tightly and shifting against him to try and press herself more firmly to him. Her back arched when he sucked at one nipple and she cried out when he repeated the action on her other. When he added his hands to the mix it set her into a series of half-words and incoherent sounds that did nothing but arouse John further.

He kept his eye on the prize, continuing lower while his hands persisted in their delicate massage of Anna's breasts, and wrapped his lips around her clit to suck gently there. Anna's legs kicked against him but John barely grunted at the impact of her knee into his side when he could wrap his tongue around her clit and continue learning its every curvature with his mouth. Eventually his hands stopped at her breasts but Anna did not seem to mind when they pressed between her weeping folds to find the place inside her that had her crying out.

They drown out whatever vain attempts the upstairs neighbors had for competition that night and John brought Anna over the edge with a shriek that practically rattled the windows. Less than a minute later he was inside her. One of his hands held her thigh and pulled her leg up to sink deeper as he sawed in and out of her, pressing her into the sofa to ensure each movement of his pelvis brushed enough friction at her clit to have her approaching the end again.

Anna clawed at him, fingers raking over his shoulders and digging into his scalp to hold him steady with each tilt of her hips. John returned his lips to her breasts and left her writhing under him until she forced his head back up. Their lips came together when she did and John followed soon after as the aftershocks of his body finally settled to barely a quiver.

It took a careful twist to extricate themselves enough to have John on his back and Anna resting over him but that was almost too much. They stayed holding one another, his fingers idling over her arm, and hers on his chest. Eventually only their deep breathing was left in the room.


End file.
